WASHINGTON\u00a0\u2014 President Joe Biden will make his first prime-time address Thursday night to commemorate\u00a0the one-year anniversary of shutdowns\u00a0taken across the nation at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic.<\/p>\n
White House press secretary Jen Psaki announced the address during Monday’s press briefing. She did not provide\u00a0a time or say where the president will deliver remarks.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“He will discuss the many sacrifices that the American people have made over the last year and the grave loss communities and families across the country have suffered,” Psaki said. “The president will look forward, highlighting the role that Americans will play in beating the virus and moving the country to getting back to normal.”<\/p>\n
White House Press Sec. Jen Psaki: “The president will deliver his first primetime address to commemorate the one-year anniversary of the COVID-19 shutdown on Thursday.” pic.twitter.com\/hvXlRZqM6W<\/p>\n
More than 525,000 Americans have died from the COVID-19 virus, which began spreading in the U.S. one year ago. State lockdowns rapidly closed businesses across the country, spiking unemployment to a high of 14.8% last April before steadily improving.<\/p>\n
The address will take place after Biden is expected to win final approval of his $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill\u00a0Tuesday, when the House takes up\u00a0a version of the legislation that the\u00a0Senate voted 50-49\u00a0along party-lines Saturday to approve.<\/p>\n
It also comes as the White House is\u00a0increasingly touting its success deploying\u00a0COVID-19 vaccines.\u00a0An average of 2.2 million vaccine doses were administered over the past week, up from 900,000 when Biden entered office.<\/p>\n
“We’re at a pace seen nowhere else around\u00a0the world,” Andy Slavitt,\u00a0a senior adviser for the White House’s COVID-19\u00a0Response, said\u00a0Monday.<\/p>\n
It remains unclear when the president will deliver his first address to a join session of Congress. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi\u00a0is tasked with setting that\u00a0date. Psaki has indicated\u00a0the State of the Union, usually held before a packed joint session at the Capitol, could look different this year because of coronavirus restrictions.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Biden also still\u00a0hasn’t taken questions from reporters at a\u00a0formal press conference as president. That will soon change, Psaki said, with plans to hold his first press conference by the end of this month.<\/p>\n