Biden Emphatically Says ‘Absolutely No, No’ to Going Back to March 2020 Conditions Amid Omicron Spike

President Joe Biden emphatically said on Tuesday that the United States will not go back to the conditions from March 2020 in response to the coronavirus pandemic and now amid the Omicron variant.

Biden acknowledged that “a question folks are asking, are we going back to March 2020. Not this last March 2021, but March 2020, when the pandemic first hit? That’s what I keep getting asked.”

“The answer is absolutely no. No,” Biden said passionately. “Here are three big differences between then and now.”

Biden then listed the three contrasts:

Number one, the first one, more than 200 million Americans have been fully vaccinated. In March 2020, no one was fully vaccinated. What that means is today a case of Covid-19 for a fully vaccinated and boosted person will most likely mean no symptoms or mild ones similar to common respiratory viruses. Over 200 million Americans share the peace of mind that they did not have in March of 2020. They’re protected from hospitalization and they’re protected from death.

The second point, we’ve prepared today for what’s coming. In March of 2020, we were not ready. Today we stockpiled enough gowns, masks, and ventilators to deal with the surge of hospitalizations among the unvaccinated. Today we are ready. As I will explain in a few minutes, we are going to be reinforcing our hospitals, helping them.

Number three, we know a lot more today than we did back in March of 2020. For example, last year we thought the only way to keep your children safe was to close our schools. Today we know more and we have more resources to keep those schools open. You can get 5- to 11-year-olds vaccinated. A tool we didn’t have until last month.

Today we don’t have to shut down schools because of a case of Covid-19. Now if a student tests positive, other students can take the test and stay in the classroom if they’re not infected, rather than closing the whole school or having to quarantine. We can keep our K-12 schools open. That’s exactly what we should be doing.

So, folks, let me summarize. We should all be concerned about Omicron, but not panicked. If you’re fully vaccinated, and especially if you’ve got your booster shot, you are highly protected. If you’re unvaccinated, you are at a higher risk of coming severely ill from Covid-19, getting hospitalized, and even dying. So the best thing to do is get fully vaccinated and get your booster shot.

And, no, this is not March of 2020. 200 million people are fully vaccinated. We’re prepared. We know more. We just have to stay focused. So that’s where we stand.

Watch above, via Fox News.