Now that the media have anointed Joe Biden as President-Elect (see what I did there?), he plans to rid the nation once and for all of COVID. The first order of business, he told crowds at his speech on Saturday night, is to implement a task force. So on Monday he will announce its members.

He didn’t announce the names at his speech, but the New York Times reported the names of the three co-chairs of Biden’s task force. Guess who apparently didn’t make the cut as one of the top dogs.

This guy.

Robert and Talbot Trudeau/flickr/CC BY-NC 2.0.

Now maybe Dr. Fauci is part of the 12-member task force after all. But while Fauci may be physically diminutive, he’s got an ego the size of Montana. So I’m thinking that he may not be content to play second banana to the co-chairs. But that’s just me.

It’s also kind of amusing that in Ohio last Monday, Biden promised that if you “elect me I’m going to hire Dr. Fauci, and we’re going to fire Donald Trump.”

(Wait, whaddaya mean that’s just a throwaway campaign line? Shouldn’t we take it literally, you know, like the media do with Trump’s wisecracks?)

At any rate, the three co-chairs of the COVID task force include Vivek Murthy, who is a former surgeon general under Barack Obama. Joining Murthy will be David Kessler, former FDA commissioner; and Dr. Marcella Nunez-Smith of Yale University.

When it comes to COVID, Murthy is all about testing, contact tracing, and vaccine distribution. Plus, he was also Biden’s coronavirus adviser and sang his praises at the Democratic convention, so of course Biden would put him in the driver’s seat.

In a rare public rebuke from a former @HHSGov official, former Surgeon General @vivek_murthy tells #DemConvention the U.S. "absolutely" has the ability to defeat #COVID19

"We have the talent, resources and technology. What we are missing is leadership." pic.twitter.com/1OfkuvmlRZ

— Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) August 21, 2020

As for Dr. David Kessler, he’s all about using “collective behavior” to stem COVID. Now I don’t know about you, but I get a little queasy when I hear the word “collective.” It sounds so. . . socialist.

Anyway, Kessler wrote an op-ed in the New York Times in April, describing the “collective behavior” he envisioned for America.

“Achieving this degree of social protection will require a new clause in our social contract that will mean fewer contacts with others and wearing protective gear. Just as we obey the most basic laws in order to protect all of us, everyone needs to accept responsibility for not only their circle of friends, family and colleagues, but for the wider community.”

I guess Chuck Schumer is exempt from that social contract, along with all the other New York City revelers celebrating Biden on Saturday.

Chuck also said, “Let’s send Donald Trump back to Florida, we don’t want him here anymore in New York!” pic.twitter.com/Vc3JtsBz62

— Dave Quinn (@NineDaves) November 7, 2020

One person who’s really jazzed about Biden’s COVID task force is Bill Gates, who is no doctor — he didn’t even graduate from college. But he’s one of the world’s richest men, and his Gates Foundation gives huge donations to the World Health Organization. So, yeah, he’s pumped.

Biden to announce 12-member Covid "task force" on Monday and Billy can't wait pic.twitter.com/1mcfUl9kaA

— Hijo del Cuervo ✪ (@hijodelcuervo) November 7, 2020

And speaking of the World Health Organization, Biden would also reverse President Trump’s withdrawal from the WHO as one of his first executive orders. The same WHO that mishandled the coronavirus response because it preferred to cover up for China. Yes, that World Health Organization. What a great idea.

But the biggest question that Americans have, now that the media have crowned him President-elect, is this: Would Biden order a national mask mandate? Even worse, would the nation be locked down again?

Joe Biden did call for a national mask mandate less than a month ago. Lots of health officials would be happy to force Americans into wearing masks, no matter where they live in the country. They include Dr. Fauci and Dr. Scott Gottlieb, former FDA commissioner under President Trump. Gottlieb, in fact, said this:

“There’s a presumption that a mask mandate would have to be backed up with fines and set off scuffles with law enforcement. . . .”

“There are lots of things we do because there is a community expectation of civil behaviors: No shoes, no service. Clean up after your dog. Many of these are even codified in city ordinances.”

Yeah, but those are local ordinances that people in communities decide for themselves. They’re not mandates from the feds in Washington, DC. But never fear, say helpful media types: there are ways of forcing a national mask mandate. Control federal funds to governors unless they force their recalcitrant citizens to mask up. That’s the ticket! Money walks, cash talks.

But if a President Biden and his COVID task force were to issue a mask mandate, and it didn’t work as expected, what then? Another lockdown?

Oh, perish the thought! Biden told reporters in Florida last week. He’s got this!

“It does not include a countrywide lockdown. I’m going to lock down the virus.”

Hold on — in August, Biden told David Muir of ABC News a different story:

“I would shut it down; I would listen to the scientists. We’re going to do whatever it takes to save lives.”

“We cannot get the country moving until we control the virus. That is the fundamental flaw of this administration’s thinking to begin with. In order to keep the country running and moving — and the economy growing and people employed — you have to fix the virus.”

Said the guy who never ran a business or made a payroll in his life. As Stuart Varney of Fox Business wrote:

“I’m not sure he could actually make it stick, but the impact would surely be catastrophic: 50 million out of a job in the first go-round, a generation of youngsters denied a year’s worth of education, and we do it all over again, because Joe would listen to the science.”

I believe that a President Biden and his task force would try to implement a national mask mandate. If that wasn’t as successful as they’d like, they’d go for another lockdown, which would not be welcomed by a nation already reeling from COVID fatigue. But it could serve as a lesson to all the merry-makers dancing in the streets on Saturday, cheering on their savior from the Orange Man. You know the old saying: be careful what you wish for.

Featured image: Neil Moralee/flickr/cropped/CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.