Illustration by Ross MacDonald October 2020, ScientificAmerican.com 13
solicits expertise and has turned that knowledge into solid
policy proposals.
On COVID-19, he states correctly that “it is wrong to talk about
‘choosing’ between our public health and our economy.... If we
don’t beat the virus, we will never get back to full economic
strength.” Biden plans to ramp up a national testing board, a body
that would have the authority to command both public and pri-
vate resources to supply more tests and get them to all communi-
ties. He also wants to establish a Public Health Job Corps of 100,
people, many of whom have been laid off during the pandemic cri-
sis, to serve as contact tracers and in other health jobs. He will
direct the Occupational Health and Safety Administration to
enforce workplace safety standards to avoid the kind of deadly out-
breaks that have occurred at meat-processing plants and nursing
homes. While Trump threatened to withhold money from school
districts that did not reopen, regardless of the danger from the
virus, Biden wants to spend $34 billion to help schools conduct
safe in-person instruction as well as remote learning.
Biden is getting advice on these public health issues from a
group that includes David Kessler, epidemiologist, pediatrician
and former U.S. Food and Drug Administration chief; Rebecca
Katz, immunologist and global health security specialist at
Georgetown University; and Ezekiel Emanuel, bioethicist at the
University of Pennsylvania. It does not include physicians who
believe in aliens and debunked virus therapies, one of whom
Trump has called “very respected” and “spectacular.”
Biden has a family and caregiving initiative, recognizing this
as key to a sustained public health and economic recovery. His
plans include increased salaries for child care workers and con-
struction of new facilities for children because the inability to
afford quality care keeps workers out of the economy and plac-
es enormous strains on families.
On the environment and climate change, Biden wants to spend
$2 trillion on an emissions-free power sector by 2035, build ener-
gy-efficient structures and vehicles, push solar and wind power,
establish research agencies to develop safe nuclear power and car-
bon capture technologies, and more. The investment will produce
two million jobs for U.S. workers, his campaign claims, and the
climate plan will be partly paid by eliminating Trump’s corporate
tax cuts. Historically disadvantaged communities in the U.S. will
receive 40 percent of these energy and infrastructure benefits.
It is not certain how many of these and his other ambitions
Biden will be able to accomplish; much depends on laws to be
written and passed by Congress. But he is acutely aware that we
must heed the abundant research showing ways to recover from
our present crises and successfully cope with future challenges.
Although Trump and his allies have tried to create obstacles
that prevent people from casting ballots safely in November, either
by mail or in person, it is crucial that we surmount them and
vote. It’s time to move Trump out and elect Biden, who has a
record of following the data and being guided by science.
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