Biden forms task force, says masks not 'political'

President-elect Joe Biden on Monday (Nov.

9) announced his new coronavirus task force, hailed Pfizer's progress toward a COVID-19 vaccine and implored Americans to wear masks by appealing to their patriotism.

Lisa Bernhard produced this report.

“So that’s why today, I’ve named a COVID-19 advisory board…” U.S. President-elect Joe Biden on Monday announced the formation of a new coronavirus task force to devise a blueprint for tackling the pandemic as he prepares to take office on January 20th.

In doing so, he also implored Americans to wear masks to combat the virus, appealing to their patriotism.

“It doesn’t matter your party, your point of view.

We could save tens of thousands of lives if everyone would just wear a mask for the next few months.

Not Democratic or Republican lives – American lives.

The goal of mask-wearing is not to make your life less comfortable, it’s to give something back to all of us – a normal life.” Biden also hailed as “positive news” Pfizer’s announcement Monday that its experimental COVID-19 vaccine was more than 90% effective, adding that the expectation is the vaccine would soon undergo an approval process with the Food and Drug Administration.

“The process must also be grounded in science and fully transparent so the American people can have every confidence that any approved vaccine is safe and effective.” The U.S. has been registering record high infection numbers in recent days, and over the weekend became the first nation in the world to surpass 10 million cases - forcing some lawmakers to take drastic actions... such as Utah’s Republican Governor, who late Sunday declared a new state of emergency, which included a mask mandate for the entire state and household-only gatherings.

Another Republican, Housing Secretary and retired surgeon Ben Carson, on Monday became the latest close Trump associate to test positive for the virus, just days after White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows also tested positive.

The pandemic has killed more than 237,000 Americans and put millions more out of work.