Their letter came a day after President-elect Biden told NBC’s Geoff Bennett that “more people may die” if the Trump administration continues to obstruct the smooth transfer of power. Meanwhile, Trump refuses to budge.
Here is a copy of the letter:
November 17, 2020
President Donald J.
Trump
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington,
DC 20500
Dear President Trump,
As organizations representing the nation’s hospitals and health systems, physicians and registered nurses who remain on the front lines in the battle against COVID-19 and currently caring for tens of thousands of COVID-19 patients, we have been working with your Administration to defeat the pandemic. Now, as new therapeutics and vaccines are being developed and will begin to be deployed, we urge your Administration to work closely with the Biden transition team to share all critical information related to COVID-19.
Our nation is experiencing a new surge of COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths as we enter into a holiday season that will undoubtedly lead to greater exposure to this deadly virus. Confronting the challenges of the pandemic is imperative to saving American lives. Real-time data and information on the supply of therapeutics, testing supplies, personal protective equipment, ventilators, hospital bed capacity and workforce availability to plan for further deployment of the nation’s assets needs to be shared to save countless lives. All information about the capacity of the Strategic National Stockpile, the assets from Operation Warp Speed, and plans for dissemination of therapeutics and vaccines needs to be shared as quickly as possible to ensure that there is continuity in strategic planning so that there is no lapse in our ability to care for patients.
As providers of care for all Americans, we see the suffering that is occurring in our communities due to COVID-19. We see families who have lost both parents from COVID- 19; we see children suffering from long-term effects due to a COVID-19 infection; and we see minority populations disproportionately suffering from the devastation of the COVID-19 pandemic. It is from this front line human perspective that we urge you to share critical data and information as soon as possible.
We stand ready to continue to work with your Administration to do all we can to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and provide care to those who have been infected.
Sincerely,
Richard J. Pollack, President and CEO AHA
James L. Madara, CEO and EVP AMA
Debbie Dawson, Acting CEO ANA
So far, the Trump Administration has not told Biden's coronavirus team “where the supplies are, how much of it the federal government has bought, how they might allocate it and what models they’re using," Dr. Nicole Lurie, who served at the Department of Health and Human Services under former President Barack Obama, told NBC News.
(Peter Alexander and Corky Siemaszko. “Covid-19 cases are on the rise in all 50 states, NBC News data shows.” NBC News. November 17, 2020.)
From the start of the pandemic, Trump immediately began to downplay its seriousness – even as he admitted to journalist Bob Woodward that he appreciated COVID-19 was far deadlier than the flu. All the while, Trump failed to implement an effective systemic public health response, and he refused to acknowledge the collective grief bearing down on America. Instead, hesaid the coronavirus death toll “is what it is.”
Trump has flip-flopped on mask-wearing. He has insisted that the virus would disappear without a vaccine. His contradictions of his own public health officials have resulted in mass confusion. Amid misleading statements and outright lies, a constant is clear: Trump doesn’t care about coronavirus victims.
Trump's intentions were most clear on the campaign trail as he told crowds America had “rounded the corner” on the virus, and he spread other coronavirus lies and conspiracy theories. When Trump took the stage at a rally in Waterford Township, Michigan, near Detroit in late October, he even pushed a baseless conspiracy theory that “our doctors get more money if someone dies from Covid,” and that they are inflating the Covid-19 death toll because of this.
That attack on doctors was not a new line for Trump. In an earlier rally in Waukesha, Wisconsin, he trotted out a similar line, telling supporters that “doctors get more money and hospitals get more money” for reporting patients with other comorbidities who die of Covid-19 as coronavirus deaths.
(Cameron Peters. “Trump’s latest defense on Covid-19 is a false attack on health care workers.” Vox. November 01, 2020.)
The American Medical Association quickly condemned Trump's comments. In a statement, AMA president Susan Bailey said, “The suggestion that doctors – in the midst of a public health crisis – are overcounting COVID-19 patients or lying to line their pockets is a malicious, outrageous, and completely misguided charge.”
Want more evidence that Trump doesn't care about COVID-19?
Trump said on November 13 that the U.S. government would not deliver a coronavirus vaccine to New York if and when one is available.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo “will have to let us know when he’s ready for it because otherwise, we can’t be delivering it to a state that won’t be giving it to its people immediately,” Trump said during a press conference from the White House Rose Garden.
Shortly after Trump’s comments, New York Attorney General Letitia James issued a statement threatening to sue Trump if a vaccine is not sent to the state once available. “This is nothing more than vindictive behavior by a lame-duck president trying to extract vengeance on those who oppose his politics,” James said.
And, of course, what Trump said about Cuomo was a vindictive lie. Cuomo announced in late September that the state would form an independent task force of scientists, doctors and health experts that would review data from every Covid-19 vaccine approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. He was concerned that Trump was trying to rush one out ahead of the presidential election for political reasons.
(Berkeley Lovelace Jr. and Noah Higgins-Dunn. “Trump says coronavirus vaccine won’t be delivered to New York right away.” CNBC. November 13, 2020.)
We, the American people, must back the American Hospital Association, the American Medical Association. and the American Nurses Association and demand Trump work closely with the Biden transition team to share all critical information related to COVID-19. If the defeated president has any smidgeon of integrity and empathy, he must comply. However, if he continues to deny sharing information and putting innocent lives at stake, we must demand government officials force him to do so.
It's November 18, 2020, and we are at a coronavirus crisis. Cases are now completely out of control; we could easily hit 200,000 a day soon. Hospitalizations are at an all-time high, and we’re approaching triage conditions in several states.
As Donald Trump is trying to pull off the world’s worst coup attempt in what he called a “rigged election,” his willful ignorance of science is killing people. Under Trump, science is merely a process of accommodating the needs and wants of his supporters and campaign contributors – most of whom consider COVID-19 an inconvenient hoax.
No comments:
Post a Comment