One of the big decision points for undecided voters in November will be how the presidential candidates have handled or will handle the China Virus. With the incumbent, Donald Trump, we already know. He’s pushing hard for new testing and new remedies, putting faith and funds behind the FDA, the CDC, and private-sector drug manufacturers to find a way out of this pandemic. Trump is also adamant about keeping the country open for business while we do it, recognizing that the widespread shutdowns probably did more harm than good.

Democrats spent much of their national convention last week tearing apart Trump’s response to COVID. But, when asked what he would do about the situation, Democrat presidential nominee Joe Biden has suggested doing pretty much everything that Trump is already doing.

Biden says he’ll develop rapid testing that produces immediate results. Last week, the FDA approved two new rapid tests, and testing in general has improved dramatically in recent weeks. The country is conducting upwards of 700,000 tests per day, almost double the rate in June, and seven times greater than in March when the lockdown began.

Biden demands a coordinated nationwide effort to produce and distribute medical equipment and supplies under the Defense Production Act. Trump invoked the act at the start of the lockdown, exhorting American industry to help make ventilators and other necessary items. Of course, ventilators wouldn’t have been in short supply if Democrats like New York Governor Andrew Cuomo hadn’t squandered the opportunity to shore up emergency-response plans years ago. But the point here is that Biden is offering nothing that Trump hasn’t already done.

When it comes to treatment, Biden is also shadowing Trump. The Democrat nominee wants ramped-up manufacturing of vaccines and other methods of fighting the virus. The Trump administration is already working with private industry to make this happen. All the major pharmaceutical companies are on board, feverishly working to develop a vaccine. Treatments are being tested that demonstrate the original thinking and bold ideas of America’s manufacturing and medical-science sectors. Just last week, the FDA authorized the use of a very promising treatment that transfuses blood plasma from recovered patients, which includes antibodies to fight the virus, into those needing treatment.

The one dramatic outlier that differentiates Biden’s virus “plan” from Trump’s is top-down control. Biden is willing to shut down the country again. Claiming that he would “listen to the scientists,” Biden is proposing what has been widely panned as one of the biggest mistakes of our virus response.

Cities, states, and regions should be allowed to respond to the virus based on their specific situations, not what is going on in New York City. And to which scientists is Biden referring? They don’t think like a monolithic bloc, and you will receive different responses from different scientists based on their own area of expertise and focus.

Biden also favors a nationwide mask mandate, disregarding the fact that such a mandate is completely outside the authority of the president.

For the last four years, Democrats have based their strategy on doing exactly the opposite of what Trump does. This is a symptom of Trump Derangement Syndrome that has dire consequences for the rest of us. Biden changed a couple of things about Trump’s response, but mostly he just wants you to think he’s doing something different. In any case, it’s clear that the health and safety of the country is just another lever to pull in the Democrats’ insatiable quest for power.

(Visit our comprehensive CV19 Pandemic response and recovery page to review our timeline of government and political actions related to the pandemic, and see our related pages regarding the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus.)