Joe Biden has promised to unite the states to vanquish the coronavirus. And he may have a narrow opening as increasingly contagious forms of Covid spread. Even more patients will crowd hospitals as the more-transmissible variants take hold. More will die. The U.S. death toll passed 400,000 Tuesday; incoming White House chief of staff Ron Klain has bluntly pointed out that it will likely top a half million within weeks. Biden’s plan to encourage better masking, social distancing, testing and contact tracing — all necessary to slow the spread — could gain traction with governors whose states are overwhelmed. About a dozen red-state governors have vowed to defy any effort to mandate statewide face coverings, saying it should remain a personal choice or up to local communities.
But some might now do more to encourage masks, especially with President Donald Trump’s science-defying approach out of the way — along with his tendency to attack governors who disagree with him.
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