After watching President Trump downplay and straight up ignore the COVID-19 pandemic over the past eight or nine months has been unbelievably frustrating.

He has been trying to downplay the virus as it killed nearly 240,000 Americans.

We at The Daily Eastern News are happy to see president-elect Joe Biden take the virus so seriously even just a few days after his election victory.

Biden has stressed that all Americans wear masks to mitigate the spread of COVID-19, an incredibly obvious and effective way to slow the spread of the virus, but one that Trump has still avoided vouching for.

Biden has also acknowledged the disproportionate affect the pandemic has had on communities of color in America.

Biden’s push against the pandemic has come at a very important time as well, as the virus is surging all over the country.

According to The Associated Press, 1 out of every 433 Americans was diagnosed with COVID-19 over the past week.

There were 103,657 new cases reported on Nov. 8 and 464 more Americans died from the virus.

There will always be people in the country that do not take the pandemic seriously. There will always be people who think it is a hoax or a conspiracy.

These people will likely not change their minds on the virus. But if our leadership takes the virus seriously, starting with Biden, maybe we still have a chance to save lives and slow the spread through the winter and spring.

If only Trump and out current leaders cared to take the virus seriously, thousands and thousands of lives could have been saved by now.

Hopefully Biden can show true leadership through the virus and beyond, a quality that our country has been lacking.