Jill Biden.Photo: Patrick Semansky/AP/Shutterstock
First LadyDr. Jill Bidenis headed to the Tokyo Olympics and will lead the United States delegation for the opening ceremony, the White House said Tuesday.
“The president is not planning to attend the games. He will certainly be rooting for the athletes,” White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki told reporters at the time.
Psaki added that “we will have a delegation from the United States as we have historically had, but we will continue to also convey the [pandemic] public health guidelines and guidance that we’ve been delivering out there about only essential travel.”
From left: First Lady Dr. Jill Biden and Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff.CAROLYN KASTER/POOL/AFP via Getty Images
During the Vancouver Winter Olympics in 2010, the Bidens also led the U.S. delegation together as vice president and second lady.
From left: President Joe Biden and First Lady Dr. Jill Biden walk on the Ellipse on May 23 in Washington, D.C.Tasos Katopodis/Getty
“The number of infected cases in the area including Tokyo has been increasing since the end of last month,” Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said last week, theAssociated Pressreported. “Considering the impact of variants, we need to enhance countermeasures so that the infection will not spread nationwide.”
According to aNew York Timesdatabase, only 18 percent of Japan’s population has been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 as of Tuesday. The country averages over 13 deaths from the virus every day.
To learn more about all the Olympic and Paralympic hopefuls, visitTeamUSA.org. Watch the Tokyo Olympics beginning July 23rd and the Tokyo Paralympics beginning August 24th on NBC.
source: people.com
