Remarks by President Biden at COVID-⁠19 Response Team’s Regular Call With the National Governors Association
DECEMBER 27, 2021
Location: Eisenhower Executive Office Building

11:33 A.M. EST

THE PRESIDENT:  A lot of govs.  We ready?

MR. ZIENTS:  We are ready.  Governors, can you hear me okay? 

Welcome, Mr. President.  This is actually the 40th time we’ve convened this group of governors, and we’re — in addition, we’re in constant one-on-one contact with the governors and their teams.

THE PRESIDENT:  That’s more times than I’ve seen you.  (Laughter.)

MR. ZIENTS:  Their leadership on the ground — they are on the frontline, as you know — has been essential to the progress we’ve made so far. 

I’m going to turn to Governor Hutchinson, who has done an outstanding job as chair of the National Governors Association, leading this group and ensuring we’re all working together every step of the way. 

Over to you, Governor Hutchinson.

GOVERNOR HUTCHINSON:  Thank you, Jeff.  And I want to thank all of the White House team for being such great support to the governors. 

And I want to thank, Mr. President — your address to the nation last week.  Thank you for your comments designed to de-politicize our COVID response.  I think that was helpful. 

As we face Omicron, the governors and your administration must be working together more closely than ever.  I particularly appreciate your comments about increasing the supply chain on rapid COVID tests.  This has become a real challenge for the governors. 

And your task force, led by Jeff Zients, has been responsive and has kept us informed every step of the way.  A good example is this last week: I asked for more monoclonal antibody treatments; we received them last week.  Still, we have a limited supply, but the responsiveness is very much appreciated. 

I would like to give you a glimpse of Arkansas today.  First, hospitalizations are down by half from where they were this time last year, but our Omicron case count and the demand for testing has increased.  In Arkansas, we have a test-to-stay school program that’s a pilot in 50 schools.  We want to expand that, and right now we have sufficient tests to be able to do that. 

But we also, as governors, are getting pressure to do more, and the need is great to do more in terms of the rapid tests and the availability of it.  And so, one word of concern or encouragement for your team is that as the — as you look towards federal solutions that will help alleviate the challenge, make sure that we do not let federal solutions stand in the way of state solutions. 

And the — the production of 500 million rapid tests that will be distributed by the federal government is great, but, obviously, that dries up the supply chain for the solutions that we might offer as governor. 

And so, just that brief comment before I turn it over to you, Mr. President. 

But I want to say, personally, I’ve enjoyed working with you when I was in Congress as head of the DEA.  And I appreciate your leadership.  And thank you so much for giving us the time today to hear from us, but also so that we can hear from you personally about the challenge that we face. 

So, Mr. President, the microphone is yours.  Thank you, President Biden.

THE PRESIDENT:  Asa — thank you very much, Asa.  Look, there is no federal solution.  This gets solved at a state level.  I’m looking at Governor Sununu on the board here.  He talks about that a lot. 

And then it ultimately gets down to where the rubber meets the road, and that’s where the patient is in need of help or preventing the need for help. 

Look, Gov, thank you for — for what you’re doing.  Thank you for the National Governors Association and Vice Chair Murphy across the river.  All’s well in New Jersey, I assume, Gov.  And —

GOVERNOR MURPHY:  Amen, Mr. President.

THE PRESIDENT:  — and here today, Democrats and Republicans. 

We’ve discussed the rising COVID cases, especially coming out of the holidays.  And as — as I said last week, Omicron is a source of concern, but it should not be a source of panic.  If you’re fully vaccinated and you get your booster shot, you’re highly protected.  If you’re unvaccinated, you’re at a high risk of getting severely ill from COVID-19, being hospitalized, and, in rare cases, even dying. 

And this is not like March of 2020, the beginning of the pandemic.  We’re prepared and we know what it takes to save lives, protect people, and keep schools and businesses open.  We just have to stay focused and continue to work together. 

My message to the governors is simple: If you need something, say something — and we — we’re going to have your back in any way we can. 

Last week, we took steps to bolster support for you with, number one, more capacity to get shots in arms, with more places, more vaccinators, more times for folks to get vaccinated or get a booster shot.  And we’ve added appointments for booster shots, adding hours, and getting more convenient to get a booster every day. 

The second thing we’re doing is more testing.  Seeing how tough it was for some folks to get a test this weekend shows that we have more work to do, and we’re doing it.