Back in June 2020 when over half of U.S. states reported record-breaking breakouts of coronavirus cases during the ‘first wave’ of COVID-19, I created the blog Could COVID-19 be the Harbinger to the Decline of the American Empire | FROLITICKS (wordpress.com) in jest to make a point about President Trump’s irrational handling of the pandemic at the time. Now, the arrival of the Delta variant and American reactions to it represents probably the most immediate political test for the Biden administration. Despite the President’s efforts and his administration’s praiseworthy commitment to vaccinate the vast majority of Americans, there continues to be around an estimated 100 million people who have yet to receive a single dose. Meanwhile, there has to date been a total of over 625,000 COVID-related deaths and over 150,000 new daily cases as of August 18, 2021 in the U.S. according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The U.S. daily COVID cases are now reaching rates seen last in November 2020.
Among the problems is the fact that certain Republican governors and legislatures are refusing to re-introduce some of the prevention measures taken during the first waves, including mandating masking, physical distancing and restrictions on certain activities involving potential crowds and non-essential activities. One of those is Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis who has resisted mandatory mask mandates (including in schools) and vaccine requirements. Along with the state legislature, Florida has limited local officials’ ability to impose restrictions meant to stop the spread of COVID-19. At the end of July, Florida reported over 17,000 new daily cases. The previous peak in Florida had been 19,334 cases reported on January 7, 2021, before the availability of vaccinations became widespread. The case counts along with the death rates continue to climb. In Kentucky, the governor’s efforts to aggressively combat COVID-19 suffered a recent legal defeat as the state’s high court cleared the way for new laws to rein in his emergency powers. One of the contested laws passed by the Kentucky legislature limits the governor’s executive orders in times of emergency to 30 days unless extended by lawmakers.
Republican lawmakers across more than a dozen states, including Montana, North Dakota, Missouri, Kansas and of course Florida, are working to limit the powers of local health departments in ways experts say is likely to lead to “preventable tragedies” during disease outbreaks, including the Covid-19 pandemic. There is nothing that President Biden can do about what is going on in these states. These states are now experiencing the most significant outbreak of Covid-19 since spring 2021, when a fast-moving vaccination campaign and social distancing led to the lowest rates of new infections since the pandemic began. They are also among the least vaccinated states in the nation.
One of the ironies is that former president, Donald Trump, is now recommending that his supporters get the vaccine. However, at a recent “Save America” rally in Alabama, Trump was severely booed after encouraging his supporters to get vaccinated against COVID-19. Oh the irony! Remember that the former president and his wife privately got vaccinated at the White House in January 2021, although the American public didn’t learn about it until the following March according to the New York Times. As president, Trump frequently dismissed following public health guidelines during the pandemic and mocked mask-wearing on several occasions. You may recall that the former president contracted the coronavirus in October 2020 and was hospitalized for three nights at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. Needless-to-say, he received medical treatment at the time that most Americans would never see in a lifetime.
In the current situation, there will be a lot of questions about the American handling of the highly-contagious Delta variant, and whether the lessening of previous restrictions came too soon and too quickly. It’s fine to say that we have to come to live with COVID-19 like we do with colds and seasonal influenza, but at what cost in the short-term. It may take years to determine whether the actions taken by governments were effective in dealing with this global pandemic. Right now, I have more immediate serious concerns about what is happening south of our border.
FROLITICKS 
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