The COVID-19 pandemic led to the postponement of several presidential primaries over the last few weeks. Ultimately, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) dropped out of the Democratic race, leaving former Vice President Joe Biden as the last candidate standing. Biden even won Alaska's primary Saturday, where Sanders — who performed well there in 2016 — still had a shot at the vote-by-mail-only contest, signaling that the senator's chances at mounting a comeback were slim.
But the question over how the virus will affect the general election between Biden and President Trump in November still looms. Dr. Anthony Fauci, the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told CNN's Jake Tapper on Sunday's edition of State of the Union he's hopeful voting will be mostly standard by then. Like so many other things, though, it depends on how well the U.S. follows through on its efforts to slow the spread of the disease. Right now, things are trending in the right direction, but Fauci preached caution.
Even if the virus does bounce back, though, Fauci believes the country may be better prepared to test for and treat the virus and therefore could avoid going to some of the extreme lengths again.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Quiz of The Week: 8 – 14 NovemberQuiz Have you been paying attention to The Week’s news?
-
The Week Unwrapped: Can musicians challenge Putin?Podcast Plus who were the ‘human hunters’ of the Bosnian war? And what should happen to captive penguins?
-
The week’s best photosIn Pictures A greedy gull, the fall of AI, and more
-
Catholic bishops rebuke Trump on immigrationSpeed Read ‘We feel compelled’ to ‘raise our voices in defense of God-given human dignity,’ the bishops said
-
House releases Epstein emails referencing TrumpSpeed Read The emails suggest Trump knew more about Epstein’s sex trafficking of underage women than he has claimed
-
Newsom slams Trump’s climate denial at COP30speed read Trump, who has called climate change a ‘hoax,’ declined to send any officials to this week’s summit
-
UK, Colombia halt intel to US over boat attacksSpeed Read Both countries have suspended intelligence sharing with the US over the bombing of civilian boats suspected of drug smuggling
-
Trump pardons 2020 fake electors, other GOP alliesSpeed Read The president pardoned Rudy Giuliani and more who tried to overturn his 2020 election loss
-
Supreme Court to decide on mail-in ballot limitsSpeed Read The court will determine whether states can count mail-in ballots received after Election Day
-
Democrats split as Senate votes to end shutdownSpeed Read The proposed deal does not extend Affordable Care Act subsidies, the Democrats’ main demand
-
USDA orders states to ‘undo’ full SNAP paymentsSpeed Read The Trump administration is telling states not to pay full November food stamp benefits
