There was really no sense blogging during the final week of the presidential campaign and during the past week of vote counting in battlefront states. Canadians were closely watching these important events unfold just as much as most Americans. Now that it’s all over, thank God, we can begin to look forward to the arrival of the new administration in January 2021. However, the issues obviously will be incredibly difficult to deal with following Donald Trump’s four years in office.
The first and foremost one is the current increasing daily rates of COVID-19 cases in the U.S. As it stands, with only four percent of the world’s population, the U.S. has accounted for 20 percent of global deaths due to the pandemic. The U.S. has to date suffered over 235,000 deaths. As the U.S. moves into the cold months of winter, modelling apparently is forecasting that 100,000 or more Americans will die in the next three months, many in the heartlands of America. Unfortunately, surveys indicate that a significant number of Americans, as many as two out of five, still believe that the pandemic has been overblown. As in Canada, people may be becoming complacent after nine months since the virus appeared in North America — a big problem for public health and government officials.
In the States, Trump’s constant attack on the science, his lack of national strategy and his denial of the seriousness of COVID-19 are a major hurtles for the Biden administration to overcome. Americans are hurting health-wise and economically because of this pandemic and will need more monetary and moral support over the coming months. Without getting COVID-19 outbreaks under control, hospitals will become overwhelmed and more deaths will surely occur. Additional economic restrictions will have to be put in place and further economic consequences will occur. The next administration will have to launch war-like efforts to successfully deal with the pandemic in the short term until an effective and safe vaccine can be developed, manufactured and distributed down the road. However, there are no guarantees.
While Joe Biden may be looking at other issues, these will most likely have to be put on the back burner for some time. He will need the support of Republicans across the board: in Congress, the states and even down to the community level. Hopefully, he will be able to reduce the incredible divisiveness left behind by the Trump administration. For this reason, Americans will have to be patient and understand that each and every citizen has a role to play in combating this pandemic. As in Canada, everyone will have to sacrifice in order to manage the situation in the coming months. As the saying goes: “We’re all in this together.”
FROLITICKS 
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