Biden Unveils National Strategy That Trump Resisted

President Biden, seeking to assert leadership over the coronavirus pandemic, signed a string of executive orders and presidential directives on Thursday aimed at creating the kind of centralized authority that the Trump administration had shied away from.

The orders included new requirements for masks on interstate planes, trains and buses, the creation of a national testing board and mandatory quarantines for international travelers arriving in the United States. Mr. Biden predicted that the national death toll from Covid-19 would top 500,000 next month, refusing to play down the carnage that his predecessor was loath to acknowledge.