The government's warning to infectious diseases, Dr. Anthony Fauci, that the problem will not be controlled until next spring - and even then, it will require many American vaccine critics to change their minds - has come a long way in a weary nation.
It also means that Biden's noble plans to overcome the epidemic and embark on an economic wave in the run-up to the November general election results now appear to be in jeopardy.
A pandemic that cuts through another bad winter and outweighs the risk of reversing the economic recovery Biden relies on for strong performance next year. It can destabilize the community and evoke a kind of bitterness among voters that always explains the danger to those in power. Already, levels of approval by the President and public confidence in his handling of the epidemic have dropped, according to a recent NBC and CBS poll.
Biden's announcement of victory over the virus in July 4 looks set to be premature - as in the beginning of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
"As we enter the spring, we can begin to return to normal, which is to revive the things we had hoped to do - restaurants, theaters, and the like," Fauci told Anderson Cooper of ENB.
The majority of Americans, encouraged by Biden himself, were already waiting for that kind of norm to be restored and may not be in a state of mind for a few months of deprivation. The proliferation of Covid-19 cases that have plagued many parts of the country has already transformed what was sold as a form of freedom from the virus into the return of some of the worst pandemic as hospitals across the South are overcrowded with Covid patients. And older lawmakers are already turning to Fauci, one of the most respected public health professionals, and a high-profile victim of right-wing media.
The past 17 months that have changed the daily routine of American life have been far from over. And there are other data from abroad - even in vaccinated countries such as Britain and Israel - that indicate that the current Delta wave of virus may reduce or not produce the same mortality rate as previous surges. If so, its political impact can be reduced.
But the prospect of an end to the war against Covid-19 could be many, in the near future, represents a bitter political situation for the President and his Democratic Party, which is already facing historical storms in an attempt to control Congress. They will now have the opportunity to do just that in a nation so devastated by the catastrophe that has already claimed more than 620,000 lives and is so politically divided by the virus every month.
A new challenge for the President
The outbreak in the early months of 2022 will make it even more difficult for Biden to maintain public morale and commit to types of surveillance such as concealing the line - a toxic political mistake - needed to stop the continued spread of the virus.
If the emergency persists for so long, it will give way to the opening of Republicans seeking to claim the bid for president of Biden - and those who participated in his exit from the conflict in Afghanistan to paint a broad history of political collapse.
The recent outbreak of the virus, which has been triggered by a further Delta infection, has been able to catch up because Americans in consecutive, southern areas - highly skeptical of government and scientific advice - have refused in greater numbers than their fellow citizens. If such doubts, instigated by prominent political leaders and conspiracies that motivated the right-wing media, would ultimately propel Republicans into next year's general election elections, it would be bittersweet for the President.
His predecessor Donald Trump - despite having his own tragic record in the epidemic - would not delay as he seeks to restart a political career that has always flourished in conflict and political removal. Trump recently accused Biden of committing himself to the Covid and Afghan Taliban, despite ignoring the epidemic for much of his final year in office and holding direct talks with the Taliban who set the stage for the current American retreat.
Another alarming expectation for Democrats is that there is no guarantee that Fauci's predictions will catch up, and the evolving coronavirus is already frustrating almost all expert speculation about how long it will last and how soon it will be eliminated. Indeed, Fauci had earlier predicted on Monday in an interview with the NPR that if the majority of people yet to be vaccinated registered for their doses, the virus could be controlled by the fall of 2022, more than a year from now. If it took too long to get the situation under control, the President would not have a place to breathe until election day, when the whole House of Representatives and a third of the Senate voted.
As the results of his comments came in, Fauci appeared on ENB and went back to his bad predictions - just a little bit.
"I meant it meant the spring of 2022," Fauci told Cooper.
"If we can go through this winter and get the most - most - 90 million people who have not been vaccinated, vaccinated, I hope we can start good governance by the spring of 2022," Fauci said.
But the senior public health lieutenant of Biden also clarified his prediction of some unpleasant opportunities if taking medication does not increase significantly.
"You have a chance that the virus will continue to spread, mutate - do something different and reverse it, or