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I see a lot of scientists and physicians getting excited about the election results, and I don't want to throw cold water on that because I'm excited for leadership that prioritizes science-based policy, but there are a lot of things we need to keep in mind. Starting with this:
We are setting records with new COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations. Deaths are trending upward. President Trump will be in office for 2 more months and we will see catastrophic suffering in that time unless there's an impossible-to-imagine federal about-face in the response.
President Trump is the kind of guy that, if he can't have something, he'll break it so nobody else can either. He's not going to come off of an unprecedented assault on democracy and the integrity of our election by suddenly implementing sound public health policy.
So when President-elect Biden takes office in January, he's going to have some huge problems on day 1. Without significant intervention, we could be looking at more than 200,000 new COVID cases per day. Overwhelmed hospitals. Exhausted, demoralized frontline health care workers.
Millions of unemployed people desperately in need of financial support. An entire nation traumatized by four years of gross mismanagement and gaslighting. An entire nation grieving for the hundreds of thousands dead due to the uncontrolled pandemic. An economy in freefall.
As Trump said in his inaugural speech nearly 4 years ago, it's going to be American carnage. And simply rejoining WHO and implementing a mask mandate won't fix that. The CDC and FDA will not have their reputations restored just because Joe Biden believes in science.
I think the Biden team is well aware of this. Their proposed policies are great, but we in the scientific and medical communities all need to think carefully about how we can rebuild the public trust that was distorted and squandered by the Trump administration.
Rebuilding this trust will be essential for pursuing policies directly relevant to effectively ending the pandemic. For example, if people distrust the FDA's ability as an objective, evidence-driven regulatory body, they will be less likely to take a vaccine once it is approved.
I am optimistic about President-elect Biden's leadership plans, but we need to face the reality of what America will be like in 2 months with clear eyes. The pandemic will probably be worse. The country will still be deeply divided. He'll be taking the reins of a total shitshow.
Things will not improve just because Biden believes in science. There are going to be some difficult, possibly insurmountable challenges from the moment he takes office. We scientists and medical professionals need to figure out how to do our part.
