"We're not going to lock down our economy," White House says

“This is not March 2020,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said during a Friday press conference, addressing fears that the Delta-driven surge of COVID-19 cases now gripping the nation would see the return of crippling restrictions. “Or even January 2021. We’re not going to lock down our economy, or our schools, because our country is in a much stronger place than when we took office.”

The report of U.S. employers adding 943,000 jobs provided a welcome capstone as President Biden left Washington to spend the weekend at home in Delaware. It has been a week in which infection rates rose, the mask culture wars returned and Americans wondered what happened to a battle that seemed only weeks ago like it had been won.