{"id":1552205,"date":"2022-07-13T10:05:28","date_gmt":"2022-07-13T14:05:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1552205"},"modified":"2022-07-13T10:05:34","modified_gmt":"2022-07-13T14:05:34","slug":"biden-to-minimize-contact-on-middle-east-trip-white-house","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/biden-to-minimize-contact-on-middle-east-trip-white-house\/","title":{"rendered":"Biden to \u2018Minimize Contact\u2019 on Middle East Trip: White House"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">20<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fbiden-to-minimize-contact-on-middle-east-trip-white-house%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1552205&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>President <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/t-joe-biden\">Joe Biden<\/a> will likely not shake hands during his Middle East trip, the White House indicated shortly before Air Force One arrived in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/t-israel\">Israel<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>There are concerns about an increase in COVID-19 cases and other metrics, triggering the shift in normal protocol, national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think just the simplest way for me to put it is that we\u2019re in a phase of the pandemic right now where we\u2019re looking to increase masking, reduce contact, to minimize spread,\u201d Sullivan said on Air Force One. \u201cThat\u2019s the approach we\u2019re taking. How exactly that plays out in any given interaction is something that we will see unfold.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>While Biden tested negative for COVID-19 before departing the United States, and has shaken hands during domestic events in recent days, the change is \u201cnot abnormal\u201d because trips outside the country trigger precautions, according to Sullivan.<\/p>\n<p>The decision was made by Biden\u2019s doctor,\u00a0White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters. She called the moves \u201creasonable\u201d because of the rise of BA.4 and BA.5, two subvariants of the Omicron strain of the virus that causes COVID-19.<\/p>\n<p>Early evidence indicates both BA.4 and BA.5 are more transmissible than earlier subvariants and strains, but there is no evidence showing either causes more severe disease.<\/p>\n<p>Still, the transmissibility factor means\u00a0the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/giving-the-right-name-to-the-virus-causing-a-worldwide-pandemic-2_3277200.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus<\/a>\u00a0can better bypass the protection from vaccines, according to recent studies. That may also apply to protection from prior infection.<\/p>\n<p> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/biden-and-yair-1200x779-1.jpg\"><\/a> US President Joe Biden (L) is welcomed by Israeli caretaker Prime Minister Yair Lapid after arriving at Israel\u2019s Ben Gurion Airport in Lod near Tel Aviv, on July 13, 2022. (Jack Guez\/AFP via Getty Images) <\/p>\n<p>The shift in protocol is meant to \u201cminimize contact as much as possible,\u201d Jean-Pierre said. \u201cThat is what the focus is going to be on this<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>President Joe Biden will likely not shake hands during his Middle East trip, the White House indicated shortly before Air Force One arrived in Israel. There are concerns about an increase in COVID-19 cases and other metrics, triggering the shift in normal protocol, national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters. \u201cI think just the simplest [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":75,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1552205","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1552205","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/75"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1552205"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1552205\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1552205"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1552205"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1552205"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}