JOE BIDEN AND HARRIS TO BE SWORN IN AT CAPITOL STAGE NEXT MONTH

Wed 16 December 2020:

US President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris will be sworn into office at the U.S. Capitol next month, following a tradition dating back to Thomas Jefferson, who was the first president to be sworn in Washington in 1801. However, due to the coronavirus pandemic, the traditional inauguration festivities will be far smaller than those in recent history.

Biden’s inauguration committee on Tuesday provided The Washington Post with a look at some of the initial plans and the new health protocols it is starting to put into place.

For weeks, the committee has been grappling with how to give the event the magisterial feel of past inaugurations — a mandate that has grown more important as Trump continues to falsely claim he won the election — while at the same time adhering to the health protocols Biden followed during his presidential campaign.

In a statement on Tuesday, the Presidential Inaugural Committee (PIC), which oversees planning for the event, announced health protocols to promote safety on Inauguration Day, January 20.

The committee said it was working with the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies to plan an event that “honors and resembles sacred American traditions while keeping Americans safe and preventing the spread of COVID-19.”

“On January 20, President-elect Biden and Vice-President-elect Harris will take their oaths of office at the U.S. Capitol during a historic ceremony that includes vigorous health and safety protocols,” the statement said.

Biden will be sworn in on the west side of the Capitol, where the stage has already been under construction for months. Early on, other options were floated, including moving the oath-taking to the other side of the Capitol where the smaller space would prevent crowds from gathering. But that option was eventually put aside.