How Will Election Affect COVID-19 Recovery?
How will the country’s response to COVID-19 change if Joe Biden is elected? Will things stay the same if Donald Trump wins a second term and are we headed toward another economic shutdown under either administration?
Rutgers health expert Michael Gusmano tackles these questions in the first of six episodes of “What Happens Next: Election Edition” produced by Rutgers University-New Brunswick and Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences.
"What Happens Next: Election Edition" on COVID-19, with Michael Gusmano (SPH)
“Although President Trump’s investment in Operation Warp Speed gives hope that a vaccine will be distributed more quickly if it can be developed, the federal response to the pandemic was otherwise slow and inadequate – from failure to use the National Defense Production Act to produce personal protective equipment (PPE) to politicized mixed messages on basic health interventions such as mask-wearing and social distancing to pushing states to reopen,” said Gusmano, a professor of health policy and director of the Health Systems and Policy concentration at the Rutgers School of Public Health.
“The president has signaled that, if re-elected, he will continue many of his policies because he believes they are working. I am fearful that as the pandemic continues concurrently with flu season, we could see hundreds of thousands more deaths,’’ Gusmano said.
His take on a Biden administration is different.
“If Biden is elected, we can expect to see a greater investment in contact tracing and testing and a more coherent use of federal authority for the production of PPE,’’ Gusmano said.
“Moreover, depending on the election results in Congress, there may be a coalition conducive to passing stronger protections for businesses and individuals affected by the pandemic’s economic fallout,’ he said. “However, I don’t expect either Biden or Trump to impose the type of sustained and difficult economic shutdown, with investments to minimize the pain for individuals and businesses, that would be needed to more quickly get this pandemic under control.”
The What Happens Next: Election Edition video can be viewed here, on Rutgers University-New Brunswick’s Facebook page.
