The number of guests attending the inauguration is expected to be about 1,000, including members of Congress. In past years the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies (JCCIC) traditionally printed 200,000 tickets for the ceremony at the Capitol and gave ticket bundles to members of Congress to hand out to their constituents. This year each member of Congress will get two tickets.

Donald Trump won't be at the inauguration, the first outgoing president in 152 years to refuse to attend his successor's inauguration. He is expected to leave DC Thursday morning to fly to his Palm Beach resort, Mar-a-Lago, before Joe Biden is sworn in.

Biden’s inauguration will include a “virtual parade across America” consistent with crowd limits in the era of COVID-19. The excitement of in-person inaugural balls around DC will be replaced with several "virtual" balls and a 90-minute primetime TV special hosted by Tom Hanks called "Celebrating America."

25,000 National Guard soldiers have been deployed. This is five times the number of US troops stationed in Iraq and Afghanistan. The National Mall will be closed and the entire area around Capitol Hill will be blocked off. Security checkpoints have been set up in all major streets near the center of Washington DC, and traffic to this area has been restricted. An emergency order announced for Washington following the incident on January 6 will last until January 21.