[ad_1]
On January 20, every four years, the winner of the US presidential election takes an oath to “preserve, protect and defend” the US Constitution. The ceremony on Capitol Hill, where Congress is, inserts the formal winner of the election as president.
The ceremony is traditionally held on the west side of the iconic building, so that the public can fill the “Mall” of Washington DC, an open park area, which stretches 3.5 miles from Congress to the Lincoln Memorial.
However, the inauguration ceremony on January 20, 2021, like this year’s presidential elections, is anything but traditional. The reason has a name:
COVID-19.
Everything will be different
Now the newly elected president of the United States, Joe Biden, plans to hold an inauguration ceremony unlike any other, according to the Washington Post.
Biden has yet to formally appoint a planning group, but the election campaign has reportedly discussed a number of important components.
Face masks, distance, and fewer participants include what is already an established fact. The traditional lunch and the majestic dances that follow the ceremony are practically unthinkable. The same goes for a large audience.
– It’s like everything else with the Biden campaign. We have had to think about how we should run our campaign differently, how we should run our national meeting differently. And we’ll probably run our inauguration ceremony in a different way too, Rufus Gifford, Biden’s deputy campaign chief, tells the Washington Post.
One million new infected
It’s unclear exactly what it will look like, and with the rapidly changing infection situation, it’s also unclear what the United States will look like on January 20, 2021.
In the last six days alone, more than a million new infections have been registered in the country. The official rates of infection and death in the United States are the highest in the world.
History teacher Joan Hoff says there are few parallels between the upcoming opening ceremony and previous ceremonies.
– It won’t look like previous opening ceremonies, and I don’t think Biden will cover it. I do not think it will soften what happens to the country when it is installed. It would simply have been a form of cover-up or false reassurance for the public, says the professor, who has investigated the presidency.
Wait for the audience anyway
Some things are more secure than others. The public is expected to come forward regardless of the infection status. Biden is the highest-voted presidential candidate in all of U.S. history, and in the days after the election winner was ready for nearly everyone but the defeated Donald Trump, spontaneous celebrations erupted across America.
Steve Kerrigan, a high-ranking Democrat who helped organize both Barack Obama inauguration ceremonies, believes there are ways to facilitate a safe and responsible ceremony for the public.
– There are ways to do it, but the most important thing is to keep it safe and set the right tone for the nation, says Kerrigan.
He admits it’s bitter, but still calls it a necessity.
– I’ve been a friend and supporter of Joe Biden since the 90’s. There’s nothing I want more than to host a grand opening ceremony, which you deserve. But that’s not why he was chosen. He has been chosen to show leadership and set a good example for the American people, he said.
