Recommendations from the Biden administration and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention seem to change weekly regarding coronavirus precautions. Americans are justifiably confused and are at risk of tuning out. For a Democratic administration struggling to create the appearance of command authority during an ongoing national crisis, the mixed messaging feeds the Republican narrative that Democrats are incompetent.
Americans should, first of all, remember the pandemic response under the previous administration. President Donald Trump proposed on national television the consumption of cleaning fluid as a coronavirus remedy. He directly contradicted his own experts. He refused to wear a mask in public, becoming infected and requiring emergency treatment. But to Trump’s credit, he spearheaded the crash development of vaccines that, today, are keeping people alive.
President Joe Biden in some senses had to build America’s pandemic-response network from zero because of Trump’s obstinacy and cultivation of a political environment that encouraged millions of Americans to reject masks and vaccines. Their refusal is the primary force behind new, record-high infection rates that are pushing health care resources to the breaking point. Such obstinacy also helps extend the life of the virus so it can continue mutating into more infectious variants such as the current omicron wave.
