Former Vice President Joe Biden (D) believes he has a better plan to combat the coronavirus than President Donald Trump.
Biden claimed Trump failed to act quickly during the onset of the outbreak despite knowing what was coming.
“We knew what was about to happen and instead of acting the president did nothing,” Biden said.
MSNBC’s Mika Brzezinski asked Biden what would have stood out to him in the beginning, what he would have put in place and if he would invoke the Defense Production Act.
“The answer is yes, yes, and yes,” Biden replied.
Watch Biden’s comments below:
WATCH: Joe Biden discusses how he would have handled the coronavirus pandemic.
— MSNBC (@MSNBC) April 16, 2020
"We knew what was about to happen and instead of acting the president did nothing." pic.twitter.com/YnXwOaOdPn
Biden expanded on the significance of the Defense Production Act which gives the president the power to go to businesses and corporations and direct them to focus solely on making equipment for personnel fighting the coronavirus.
He explained how Trump was slow to direct General Motors to begin manufacturing ventilators.
Biden suggested Trump should have directed the production of masks and other equipment earlier on and as a result, lives have been lost.
“Look at all the carnage that’s occurred as a consequence of it,” Biden said. “And we’re risking, we’re risking the lives and losing the lives of the very people we’re going to need to take care of the people who are in fact sick.”
Biden moved on to the next thing he would do which is empowering a supply commander.
The 2020 presidential hopeful recently penned an op-ed in The New York Times which provides a more detailed plan to slow the spread of the coronavirus, as IJR previously reported.
In his op-ed, Biden lists three ways he would reduce the effects of the coronavirus.
The first is reducing the number of cases through social distancing guidelines and providing equipment to medical personnel. The second is making testing easily available by performing more tests and developing a second form of testing. The last is making sure hospitals are prepared for “flare-ups” of cases as the economy reopens.