Although it has been estimated that youth and young adults have the lowest mortality rates from COVID-19, they may be the ones that suffer the most long-term consequences.

For over a year, parents and students across the nation have been trying to cope with sudden changes to their social lives and daily routines, the inability to access education, food insecurity, and some may even experience unsafe home environments.

UNICEF warned that at least 1 in 7 children has lived under required or recommended nationwide stay-at-home policies for at least nine months since the start of the pandemic, putting their mental health and well-being at risk.

Citizens need a steady, strong, reassuring voice which, to this point, this administration have yet to provide.

In fact, President Biden has yet to hold a news conference to take direct questions from media. We’re awaiting Biden’s strategy in dealing with the immigration/border crisis, which escalated by 30 percent in January alone after he reversed all of President Trump’s policies.

During World War II, the Allies were fortunate to have strong leaders. Franklin D. Roosevelt used his “fireside chats” to speak to the American people about the issues of the day, ranging from the Great Depression and World War II.

In Great Britain, Prime Minister Winston Churchill was known to disappear, only to pop up somewhere in London with ordinary people. He was eager to know the pulse of his people as the nation prepared to go toe to toe against the Nazis war machine.

In last year’s election, Biden was just the opposite of a Churchill or FDR. When he did surface from seclusion, Biden painted as bleak a picture as possible to denigrate the Trump administration’s handling of the pandemic. His dark, pessimistic mood carried into the opening weeks of his presidency.

Immediately after he was sworn in, Biden told homebound parents and their children that the crisis was not getting better, it’s deepening, and that we are in a “national emergency.”

“A lot of America is hurting,” he said in an uninspiring monotone voice. “The virus is surging. Families are going hungry. People are at risk of being evicted again. Job losses are mounting.”

The Biden team has sent mixed messages about what the administration’s goal is for reopening schools during his first 100 days in office. Last December Biden promised that the coronavirus pandemic would be under enough control to reopen most of the nation’s schools during his first 100 days as president. He made that promise not too long after warning that the nation faced a “dark winter.”

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s leading infectious disease expert, meanwhile, cautioned that the president’s push to reopen most schools within 100 days “may not happen” because there may be “mitigating circumstances.”

In January, Biden backpedaled, stating that the goal applied only to schools that teach through eighth grade.

Pressed on the issue, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said schools would be considered “open” if they held in-person classes even just one day per week.

As the White House flipflops and plays word games on crucial issues like the pandemic, the southern border and the reopening of schools reopening schools, it’s more crucial than ever to have a strong voice in the Oval Office to show American citizens - and the nations of the world - that there is a strategy … and hope for the future.

Norman Vincent Peale, the minister and author best known for his work in the field of positive thinking, once stated: “Promises are like crying babies in a theater, they should be carried out at once.”

We’ve heard enough of the press secretary deflecting questions - promising to “circle back” when she finds an answer.

This president needs desperately to find his voice and be a leader. He could start by borrowing a dose of Vincent Peale’s positiveness, FDR’s transparency and Churchill’s bulldog determination in confronting a crisis or “challenge,” as this administration refers to the deteriorating chaos along the southern border.

By Jim Zbick | tneditor@tnonline.com

The foregoing opinions do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editorial Board or Times News LLC.