On Friday, President-elect Joe Biden announced his Jan. 20 Inauguration Day blueprint would be scaled down and use remote alternatives, which would be similar virtual techniques employed by the 2020 Democratic National Convention (DNC).
The president-elect offered detailed executive-level plans for Inauguration Day, noting that they would likely mirror that of the 2020 DNC, which was conducted almost entirely virtually, rather than having participants stay in one location.
As of Friday, Biden said that many details for the Jan. 20 event were still in the air.
Still, he maintained that his transition team members were in contact with those who had helped organize the DNC’s mostly virtual convention and that most of those rules and protocols would be followed.
Biden stated that his staff would continue consulting with public health experts as plans for Inauguration Day are finalized while acknowledging the pandemic’s impact would make it “highly unlikely” that large numbers of people would be able congregate.
“My guess is that there probably will not be a gigantic inaugural parade down Pennsylvania Avenue… But my guess is you’ll see a lot of virtual activity in states all across America, engaging even more people than before,” Biden said following an address about Friday’s monthly jobs report and the imminent need for Congress to pass another stimulus relief package.
Biden’s announcement on Friday about alternative Inauguration Day plans reiterated comments of newly appointed Chief of Staff Ron Klain, who had also said last month that the inauguration would “definitely have to be changed.”
