On Monday, November 9th, president-elect Joe Biden mentioned to the media that when he gets in office, his administration’s first focus will be on dealing with the pandemic. He later unveiled that he had now formed a coronavirus advisory board full of scientists and doctors to help with the continued research along with the handling of the virus. This advisory board would be led by former Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy. However, despite the work continuing on finding a vaccine for the virus, Biden still urged the American people to wear proper protective face coverings. He commented by saying “The challenge before us right now is still immense and growing, and so is the need for bold action to fight this pandemic,”.
Will Biden Help the Pandemic at All?
According to WABC-TV, over the past two weeks, the number of Covid-19 cases has increased by 65%. A few days ago I started to ask some of the students at Gulf Coast State college about what their thoughts were on the Covid-19 issue and about president-elect Biden. The first question I asked was if they thought Biden would really help with the pandemic. A student named Cera Lawrence responded by saying that she would hope that he would help with the pandemic and that she has more confidence in him than with Trump.
Another student on campus named Luke Ramsay agreed that he thinks Biden would help greatly with the pandemic too and gave many reasons to why. He responded by saying “Personally, I believe in medical science and medical experts. We are at all-time high Covid numbers and our current leadership isn’t even discussing the pandemic at this point. Other countries have succeeded in greatly reducing numbers such as Taiwan.” He then continued that Biden overall is just more ready to listen to epidemiologists and other experts to pass policy changes based on that information.
In opposition to the previous answers that I’ve gotten, Seth Johnson on campus expressed that he doesn’t believe that Biden will deliver when it comes to dealing with Covid-19. He told me that he still thinks that the Trump Administration was and is still going their best with handling the virus. He continues to voice his opinion by saying “If he is elected (Biden), then I have nothing but hope that he does well, but to me it seems like his motives are somewhere else when it comes to taking advantage of this pandemic.”
The Choice to Wear a Mask
So, the next question I asked each of the students was if they thought wearing a mask helped stopped the spread of Coronavirus. Cera responded that she thinks it’s better to wear a mask because it’s just one minor inconvenience for the betterment of preventing the spread of the virus. When I asked Luke, he voiced that he thinks wearing a mask is really important and that science showed that it was effective to wear a mask. He then continued by also saying that people who don’t wear masks are selfish for not stopping the spread of germs towards others and that he doesn’t see masks as being a massive threat to our freedoms.
Lastly, Seth replied to the question by stating that he believes that wearing a mask is good for select circumstances. He explained this more by saying “Sure, it’s helpful to wear it around vulnerable or sick people; but for the rest, it’s just an illusion of security. We as humans love having control of our situations- I think wearing masks is a way for us to say “It’s ok, we have this under control, if we do this we’ll stop it.” I also see it as a scare tactic to an extent, and for the majority of people I think it’s unnecessary.”
The Future?
The last question I asked each of the students was about what they thought things would be like after the pandemic. when I asked Cera the question, she was mainly unsure if things would go back to normal or not. She mentioned that this pandemic has really changed the way people interact with each other and the environment, which could take a bit of time for society to unlearn. Luke replied similarly by saying that it would take some time for the people to get out of their old habits with the pandemic but that he thinks things would go back to normal in just a matter of months. Similarly, Seth also agreed that things would eventually get back to normal soon.
As the pandemic continues, only time will tell what will happen in regards to Covid-19. As talks of a second lock down becoming more brought up, it is for sure uncertain for many of what the future holds.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jakob Monroe
Student Author - Fall 2020
