Spare a thought for the people who'll be managing Joe Biden's presidential appointment diary.
Four years of inward-looking "America First" leadership by outgoing President Donald Trump have generated pent-up global demand for a more engaged and amenable America.
The leaders of governments and global institutions will likely be hammering on White House doors and email inboxes with a long wish list of priorities they want American help with - which, on issues big and small, from climate change to taxing Internet companies, Trump's administration often refused to provide.
"Tackling climate change, trade, international security," British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said, listing in an interview on Sunday with The Associated Press just some of the things that he wants to talk about.
Those involved, from World Health Organization experts to doctors and nurses on front lines, argue that nations will beat the coronavirus faster by working together.
"You cannot have a country by country approach. You need a global approach," Dr. Soumya Swaminathan, the WHO's chief scientist, told the AP. She said she hopes the United States will join with a WHO-led project, the Covax Facility, which aims to deploy vaccines to the world's neediest people.
The head of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, John Nkengasong, also told the AP that he has heightened expectations.
"The world has always been a better place in terms of fighting diseases when America has played a key leadership role," he said. "US is a leader. Where America goes others follow," said Desmond Majekodunmi, an environmentalist in Nigeria.
