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The winner of the presidential election, whether that is Donald Trump or Joe Biden, will need to overcome the COVID-19 pandemic — the worst international health emergency since the 1918 influenza outbreak — and also begin preparing the United States and the world for the next pandemic. (Thomas J. Bollky and Stewart M. Patrick, 10/28)

Staying at home has never been so vital for older Americans and those with compromised health. After nine months of the coronavirus pandemic, sheltering in place is still the most effective protection against Covid-19 for many older adults, and likely will be until an effective vaccine helps stop the pandemic. (Thomas Lally and Marc Rothman, 10/28)

Perhaps you’ve heard winter is coming. Or as Joe Biden warned last week about a third virus wave, “We’re about to go into a dark winter, a dark winter.” He’s playing up the worst case as the election nears, so some context is in order. Virus cases are increasing, but this is inevitable as cooler weather arrives and Americans go indoors. Cases have also been climbing across Europe, in some countries more than in the U.S. But the good news is that America is better prepared to handle another virus surge, and progress toward a vaccine continues. (10/27)

This alarming scenario is exactly what policy makers hoped to avoid by trying to halt the coronavirus’s spread through testing, tracing and isolation as well as mandatory face masks. Yet that only delayed the inevitable. While hospitals have more knowledge and treatments than they had during the first wave, ICU patients are still mostly over 60 with underlying health conditions. And doctors lack real game-changer drugs. (Lionel Laurent, 10/28)

Every time the president ramps up this violent rhetoric, every time he fires up Twitter to launch another broadside against me, my family and I see a surge of vicious attacks sent our way. This is no coincidence, and the president knows it. He is sowing division and putting leaders, especially women leaders, at risk. And all because he thinks it will help his reelection. (Mich. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, 10/27)

Decades of research shows that all of us — men and women — benefit when women are in leadership positions. More women in executive management increases a company’s profitability. Female members of Congress bring more federal dollars into their districts. Most recently, many have started examining the positive impact a female head of state has on a country’s success in fighting the coronavirus. Far too often, though, these same leaders must operate within a culture where criticism comes with a heavy side dish of gendered language, violent sexual imagery and graphic death threats. And sometimes that online harassment comes offline into the real world. (Cheryl Bergman, 10/26)

While it is not inherently bad for Trump, and other men, to espouse confidence and strength, these traits can quickly devolve into toxic masculinity — suppressing emotions, flaunting a tough exterior and seeing violence as an indicator of power. Trump is toxic masculinity’s “star child,” Stephany Rose Spaulding, a professor of women’s and ethnic studies at the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs, told me. Trump doesn’t like to seem weak. He has not only threatened foreign and domestic opponents with violence, but has also bragged about sexually assaulting women. This is toxic. (Erin B. Logan, 10/28)

It’s hard to overstate how much jihadist terrorism has receded from public consciousness over the past four years. ...All of which helps explain why Mr. Trump — who this year cannot campaign against the Islamic State — has auditioned China for the role of overseas menace. He has called President Xi Jinping America’s “enemy.” He has repeatedly accused Mr. Biden of wanting to “surrender” to China. He has called the coronavirus outbreak “an attack” that’s “worse than Pearl Harbor.” He has even said battling it makes him a “wartime president.” But it hasn’t worked. (Peter Beinart, 10/28)