President Biden owed his 2020 win in part due to his promise that he would do better than his predecessor in handling the pandemic; that unlike Trump, he would “follow the science.” And at first, he did. But once it became clear that new variants would arise and vaccines would not prevent all Covid cases—though they did limit hospitalizations and deaths—the Biden administration went way off course. Rather than following the science and ramping up rapid-test production, covering testing and new vaccines, and upholding commonsense safety measures like masking in health care, his Covid czar, a corporate executive, chose to pretend Covid was a thing of the past.

I am concerned that the sense of urgency about COVID-19 appears to have faded. The disease has not been discussed during the election season, even though it is an ongoing and developing public health threat. I believe this is a dangerous mindset. The reality is that COVID-19 remains a unique and deadly threat for many people — it is not just another respiratory virus, and should not be treated as such by our leaders.