Highlights from Biden's CNN town hall !!

Former Vice President Joe Biden attended the CNN town hall on the response to coronavirus on Friday. The town hall received questions from individuals living in some of the communities that are hit the hardest by the coronavirus outbreak. Moderated by CNN’s Anderson Cooper, the hour-long show discussed the impact of Americans’ health, consequences of the US economy. Biden joined the town hall from a remote feed in his house in Delaware, where he told the audience that he starts his mornings with back-to-back briefings on the economic fallout of the pandemic.

Biden further said that he is in constant touch with governors who are handling their states’ responses as the US crossed 100 thousand cases nationwide. Biden criticized President Trump’s slow actions for not deploying the resources to hospitals. Here are five key takeaways from the Biden town hall:

1) Choosing between public health and the economy is a false choice:

Biden outrightly rejected Trump’s idea of opening the businesses without controlling the virus. The economy can only rebound once the public health emergency is under control. “It’s completely a false choice to open the economy or else everything goes to hell. The economy can’t grow until the virus is contained,” said Biden.

2) Temporary nationwide shutdown:

Biden recommended a lengthy shutdown of the entire country, aligning his views with Bill Gates. “For the time being, I would go for a lengthy lockdown as a don’t know who has the virus and who doesn’t. So, a lot of people who look healthy and walking around may very well have the virus and can transmit it,” said Biden. On the contrary, President Trump is focused on a short lockdown and hoping to reopen the country in mid-April.

3) No layoffs and no health care costs:

Two crucial points by Biden to protect Americans from the economic fallout: First is to implement a three-month freeze on rent payments, and second is the government coverage of all health care expenses related to coronavirus. He also pointed out that there should be a rent freeze, and absolutely no one should be fired during this period.

4) Biden expressed his views on human suffering due to coronavirus

The former Vice President gave an emotional response when asked about the difficulty of losing their loved ones. “I personally lost a couple of children. I’ve lost a wife, and it is incredibly hard to go through,” said Biden after noting that he was able to be with his mother, father, and son while they died. Due to coronavirus, families aren’t able to be with their loved ones as the virus would spread, leading to the death of more people. Biden urged people to get in touch with his campaign so that he could take to them personally in the hour of grief.

5) Working from Home

“At this hour, maintaining social distance is the crucial thing to contain the virus. To make it successful, we all have to stay home and stay healthy, keeping a good distance from others. I’ve been working from my house in Delaware following the stay at home orders,” said Biden.