The past few days have seen horrible conditions in Virginia. Some areas have faced a foot of snow, passengers were stranded on an Amtrak train for almost 40 hours, thousands of people were stuck on Interstate 95 without help for more than a day, and hundreds of thousands of Virginia residents are still without power. And in this time, what has Governor Ralph Northam done? Absolutely nothing.

Interstate 95 was a disaster zone. For more than a day, there was no movement from Dumfries all the way to down past Fredericksburg. Thousands were trapped in freezing conditions, many without food and water. Among the thousands of motorists stranded on Interstate 95 were Senator Tim Kaine and Delegate Lashrecse Aird. 

Under these conditions, why wasn’t the Virginia National Guard mobilized? Perhaps the Virginia National Guard wouldn’t be able to access the interstate to help the stranded motorists, but if that’s the case, why weren’t they deployed to help those stranded on the Amtrak train without food and water?

It’s undeniable that a lapse in leadership led to this snowstorm resulting in more disaster than it had to.

But this is not the only crisis Northam has failed to mitigate in recent weeks. The spread of the Omicron variant of the COVID-19 virus has brought record-high infection rates across Virginia, and despite the increase in positive cases and hospitalizations, Northam has made little to no effort to combat the spread of the virus. At the beginning of the pandemic in 2020, Northam issued a mandatory mask mandate. Why hasn’t he done the same now? 

Of course, a mask mandate would not have completely prevented the spread of the Omicron variant, but it still would have had an impact.

As the only governor with a medical degree, Northam’s response to the pandemic should have been the best, but it wasn’t. He did nothing to mitigate the surge caused by the Omicron variant.

So what has the governor been doing while so many Virginians have been suffering? Well, he’s been tweeting about his accomplishments. While thousands of Virginians are without power, the governor has decided this is the right time to tweet about everything his administration has done to combat climate change and raise the minimum wage. And while those accomplishments are great, nobody can benefit from increased wages if they freeze to death first.

Has Northam decided not to take action because he’s leaving office soon? Is he trying to set his successor up for failure? Or is he trying to further tarnish his own legacy, which should have been irreparable after it came out that he did blackface? Regardless of his intent, one thing is clear: he has failed the people of Virginia.

The only thing saving Northam from bipartisan calls for resignation is the fact that his term will expire in just ten days.

But what could the governor do at this point? The disaster on the interstate has been resolved, and the folks on the train have been taken care of, too. Power is slowly being restored to families across the state by power companies.

While there isn’t a lot Northam could do to expedite the process of companies restoring power, he could mobilize the National Guard to ensure that those without power have food, water, and blankets. And that is exactly what he should do. 

Until Governor-elect Youngkin is sworn in, Ralph Northam is still Virginia’s governor, and he needs to act like it. There are Virginians suffering, and he has the power to help.