The White House and the U.S. Department of Transportation announced Friday the appointment of retired General Stephen R. Lyons, former Commander of the U.S. Transportation Command (USTRANSCOM), as the Biden.
general lyons, i know there are concern about capacity, but are medics being provided, there s a report that a woman had a baby during one of the flights? so do you have medics that will be upon board to handle emergency situations that may come up, if somebody has a baby or somebody gets sick or something of that instance? yeah. that s a great question. we do not have medics on every flight. there is a medical screen, as part of the screening and boarding process. but i ll confess to you that many people would have to self-identify any kind of medical issue. really exciting, i mean, i really appreciate the news reporting on the baby being born, as that flight came in to ramstein. as a matter of fact, there s actually been more than that. just an incredible, incredible operation ongoing, you know, just impressive work by our great airmen. a lot more than that?
on the ground and making a difference through u.s. capabilities i do want to now turn the microphone over to general steve lyons, general of the command, he ll get questions and i ll come back to the podium and monitor the q and a. we have a limited amount of time with the general. he s obviously got a lot on it his plate. general, sir, you can hear me and are you ready to go? john, i got you. can you hear me okay? yes, sir, loud and clear. the floor is yours, sir. hey, i m pleased to join you today, as well as the press, to talk about transcomin this monumental noncombatant evacuation proceeds. i want to say from the time transcom began, to gain the kabul airfield. simultaneously, continued around the clock operations to ensure
single evacuatee out of kabul. you foresee fewer flights in the 28th, 29th, 30th, 31st of the month as there are fewer ground forces presumably, in kabul? well, i d prefer not to get into numbers of flights by day. i would not say that we re going to let up. we re not going to let up. you know, full accelerator. we re not going to let up. as long as there s a mission to be accomplished we ll be out there. i forgot to ask you to introduce yourselves so the general can t see you, courtney. this is courtney kube from nbc news. you said you re pushing the limits. you can explain a little bit more what you mean by that pushing the limits to get as many people out? then, are you able to give a big picture look how c-17s or c-130s
rates tick up. there were 1 million shots given several days in a row last week. and what do you think that s about? i really think that s about fear and the reality that this virus can strike any of us, regardless of our age. regarding of our pre-existing health status. the delta variant in particular, but really covid in general does not discriminate. any of us are at risk. and the vaccinations help protect us from severe disease, hospitalization and death. and as people see friends and family members getting sick, getting hospitalized. they see the news stories about these tragico outcomes for youn people, they re now stepping up and saying, you know, i m welling to overlook some of these small fears. i m going to take the risks that indeed these myths or misinformations really are false. and i m going to get the shot because i recognize that i need it to protect myself and to protect my family. speaking of risk and misinformation, the adafda and