TORONTO -- When U.S. president-elect Joe Biden takes office in the White House in January, he will be faced with one of the country’s most pressing issues: the COVID-19 pandemic.
Case numbers in the U.S. have been spiking for days. As of Friday, the U.S. hit a record high of 125,596 single-day cases. It was the third day in a row that the country topped the 100,000 daily case mark, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
Biden is expected to make his first move to address the pandemic Monday by establishing a 12-person task force to tackle the coronavirus, as reported by CNN.
“First of all I think [Biden] has to restore some degree of credibility that the medical experts and the important institutions such as the CDC were essentially dispossessed of by the Trump administration throughout this pandemic,” CTV News’ infectious disease specialist Dr. Abdu Sharkawy told CTV News Channel.
“It’s going to be very important thereafter to try and ensure testing resources are applied to areas of the U.S. are more heavily hit by this pandemic.”
Dr. Sharkawy added that restrictions will need to be put in place.
Biden’s mandate will not be enacted until he assumes the presidency, as U.S. President Donald Trump will serve out the rest of his term until Jan. 20, 2021.
“Throughout this pandemic it’s been very clear if you dissect the anatomy of the Trump administration’s response, it has been an abject failure,” said Sharkawy.
Despite being cautiously optimistic, Sharkawy believes there is still time to prevent further harm.
On Oct 23, Biden outlined his policy promises, which included mandating mask-wearing, creating a national testing plan and the administration of million of free vaccines should one become available.
When asked if there needs to be an agreement across the whole country to tackle the pandemic, Sharkawy said Biden needs to lead by example.
“I think there is going to be a sincere commitment of taking this seriously and I’m hopeful the American public will start to pay attention,” he said.
