2020 continues as Election Day approaches, COVID-19 remains a constant issue
As Election Day 2020 draws near, COVID-19 continues to be a continuous struggle for America. The current pandemic is particularly rising in new cases in red states such as Texas and other parts of the Midwest. Since the month of June, the rise in the number of cases has nearly doubled. And with the month of September, COVID-19 rates have exceeded 500 cases per 100,000 residents. Back in July, a surge of cases skyrocketed showing as many as 1400 cases per 100,000 residents. And with still no vaccine for the virus yet, many people fear that this is only just the beginning. Only time will tell if organizations like Pfizer or Astrozeneca can produce a vaccine by the time the next president is announced as Trump stated in his latest debate that there will be a vaccine in several weeks before the year ends.
With the recent case of President Donald Trump being exposed to the coronavirus, he has stated after contracting it that he is now “immune” to the virus “contradicting evidence that people can get the virus more than once” and “ignoring the lack of research about how long antibodies are effective”, according to this article by the Guardian.
With the election coming in the following months, the race for the presidency continues to be close as a new national poll has been shown to reveal that democratic nominee and former Vice President Joe Biden is in the lead by a substantial 12 percent, according to ABC and the Washington Post. Biden holds the lead of the popular vote 54% to 42% and is more favored and more trusted in handling the coronavirus than Trump. Biden is also more favored by women and both candidates are equal among men.
Voting is crucial in this upcoming election and majority of the states have information on vote.org, mainly for absentee voting and ballot voting. During the first Presidential debate, Trump stressed that ballot voting and absentee voting is “rigged” and that ballots have been casted in a wastebasket that have the name ‘Trump’ on them and fears that he won’t have as many votes because of a balloting error sent to over fifty thousand Ohio voters.
Because of the new changes with postponing voting and the recent elections, some countries in Europe and Asia have seen new cases rising. This can also be a factor of protests or other factors. Belarus has had a “widespread” amount of protests that may have contributed to the recent number of cases as shown in this graphic. Countries like Serbia have also shown a lot of protests and have been accused of under reporting cases ahead of its elections from the Council on Foreign Relations.
According to an article from TIME magazine, this upcoming election is going to change everything because of the current pandemic. It’s going to change how we vote, how we value things, and how adults go to offices and how children got to school. Both campaigns have moved to virtual campaigns and voter registrations have plummeted. And until a vaccine is produced, American politics may never be the same again.
In conclusion, Biden stated Saturday that he hopes that President Trump will be clear of COVID-19 before the big election and urges people to remain socially distant. The White House has also remained quiet when asked when Trump was last tested negative for COVID-19 prior to his previous tests. Trump is scheduled to hold an event this Saturday and will be his first event since testing positive. And with 24 days until the election, things are heating up quickly and the voting begins on November 3. Will Trump hold out and be re-elected for a second term or will Joe Biden come out swinging and take the presidency in spite of this pandemic? Stay tuned.
