Why Is President Biden Waiting Until Tuesday To Announce New Covid Measures As Omicron Cases Double In One Day?

Some criticized Biden's decision to wait until Tuesday to unveil his Omicron plan as they warned that the variant was serious  

Daily Mail: Biden is slammed for waiting until TUESDAY to announce new COVID measures as Omicron cases double over 24 HOURS: White House scrambles after Harris admission they 'did not see variant coming' 

* President Joe Biden was criticized for deciding to wait until Tuesday to announce new Covid measures to fight the rapidly-spreading Omicron variant as cases double in the past 24 hours 

* The speech will build on his 'Winter Plan' and address booster shots, lockdowns and mask mandates 

* It comes after Kamala Harris admitted the administration was not properly prepared for the variant and appeared to blame scientists before the White House went into damage control to spin the claims 

* Health officials have also advised the president to focus on severe cases rather than overall infections and publicly about living with the virus as a part of everyday life 

* The number of confirmed Omicron cases in the US has nearly doubled in a period of 24 hours, with the variant confirmed in all but six states - Oklahoma, Montana, the Dakotas, Indiana and Vermont 

* New York is the epicenter of the variant outbreak and overall new cases there hit a daily record on Saturday at 29,908 - breaking its previous record of 21,027 set just one day earlier 

* WHO warns that Omicron spreads in communities at a rate that doubles cases every 1.5 to 3 days 

* Europe is moving towards new restrictions with Netherlands planning national hard lockdown from Sunday 

* But Mayor Bill de Blasio vows to hold New Year's Eve party in Times Square on the final day of his term despite New Yorkers struggling to find Covid-19 tests as the city suffers a surge of infections driven by Omicron 

* Surge in demand has stretched the city's testing capacity to the limit, with wait times of more than two hours 

President Joe Biden's decision to wait until Tuesday to address his plan to combat the rapidly spreading COVID Omicron variant has been met with incredulity as many criticized his apparent lack of urgency while he spends the weekend in Delaware. 

It comes after Vice President Kamala Harris admitted on Friday that the administration was not prepared for the variant as cases doubled over the past 24 hours, with all but six states confirming cases, stoking fears of shutdowns similar to the ones in 2020. 

Some have claimed that waiting till next week to outline a plan against Omicron is not a proactive move for a president who famously vowed to 'shut down the virus.' 

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WNU Editor: Good question on why the delay. Panic is growing .... Six states set daily COVID records as Omicron grips nation: Variant sweeps across US and is now confirmed in 44 states. NY is hammered by highest number of daily cases ever (Daily Mail). More here .... Hospitals struggle as Covid beds fill up (AP), and here .... U.S. could see 1 million cases per day, warns departing NIH director Francis Collins (NPR).