Why Dr. Fauci's COVID-19 Timeline Might Have Joe Biden Worried

Things aren't looking as positive as President Joe Biden might have foreseen they would be. The POTUS was hoping to be the president that went down in history for getting control of the COVID-19 pandemic and possibly even putting it to rest forever. And in fact, it was even predicted that this might be his legacy, due to the high vaccination rates and low number of COVID-19 cases around the country (via Healthline). But according to the government's top infectious diseases expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the new delta variant of COVID-19 might prevent things from going the way that Biden had anticipated, per CNN.

While the past few months might have suggested that COVID-19 related issues were under some sort of control, experts are suggesting that things might return to how they were during the 2020 pandemic, when businesses were closed, people were in lockdown, and COVID-19 cases were skyrocketing. Despite the high number of vaccinations throughout the United States, studies show that the delta variant might be the most infectious one so far. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the delta variant is two times as contagious as previous variants, and it might even cause more severe illness and symptoms for unvaccinated people.

As if anxieties surrounding the severity of this new COVID-19 variant weren't high enough, President Joe Biden is beginning to worry about how it'll affect his ratings. Experts are suggesting that the pandemic might drag into a midterm election year, which would have a large effect on his overall approval ratings (via CNN). Biden's approval ratings have been taking quite a hit due to decisions that resulted in a chaotic military withdrawal from Afghanistan. The president could certainly use a win, and getting COVID-19 under control would have been essential for him — but this doesn't seem to be the case.

According to USA Today, a poll found that there has been a 16-point drop from April 2021 in regards to Americans' approval of Biden's pandemic handling, putting the percentage at 53%. And experts suggest that the rating will only decrease now, in light of the bleak outlook of the delta variant. That being said, his ratings are certainly higher than that of former president Donald Trump, per the outlet.

It's essential that President Joe Biden gets some semblance of control of the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent delta variant in order to salvage his approval ratings — and indeed, his approval rates will be strongly linked to Americans' likelihood to abide by his mandates, such as getting vaccinated, wearing masks, and social distancing. If the pandemic continues to worsen, it will become much more difficult for Biden to keep up public morale and authority towards COVID-related precautionary measures (via CNN).

"If we can get through this winter and get really the majority — overwhelming majority — of the 90 million people who have not been vaccinated, vaccinated," says Dr. Anthony Fauci per CNN, "I hope we can start to get some good control in the spring of 2022." If this doesn't happen, Fauci predicts that more variants will continue to mutate, circulate, and infect — and they could be even more infectious than delta and lead to even more severe illnesses.