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]]>What a bizarre month this has been.
We’ve had Rep. Louis Gohmert (R-Texas) ask if the National Forest Service might change Earth’s orbit around the sun to alter the effects of climate change. An Ohio doctor pushes the idea that the vaccines can magnetize people and make them susceptible to government monitoring — an idea readily accepted by Republican legislators there.
Now comes Rep. Ann Wagner, (R-Missouri) proposing a bill that would hold China accountable for “deliberate, reckless action that allowed the coronavirus to spread, killing millions worldwide.”
She recently warned constituents that the government must pass this legislation, “to make sure China pays for their reckless actions.”
Talk about reckless actions, I bet she can’t wait to read “Nightmare Scenario: Inside the Trump Administration’s Response to the Pandemic That Changed History,” a new book by Washington Post journalists Yasmeen Abutaleb and Damian Paletta that captures the Trump administration’s dysfunctional response to the unfolding pandemic.
The book details some of the inner workings of Trump world early on in the pandemic. We knew he wanted to block cruise ship passengers from re-entering the country. But did we know he also wanted to bar infected Americans returning from abroad? His solution: send them to Guantanamo. All to keep the COVID numbers down in the U.S.A.
The book is not without its ironic moments…
“Testing is killing me!” Trump reportedly exclaimed in a phone call to then-Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar on March 18, yelling so loudly that Azar’s aides overheard every word. “I’m going to lose the election because of testing! What idiot had the federal government do testing?”
“Uh, do you mean Jared?” Azar responded, citing the president’s senior adviser and son-in-law, Jared Kushner.
– Washington Post
Trump fired key people to stifle sound scientific commentary. And, of course, he espoused ideas like using hydroxychloroquine and bleach injection. He repeatedly claimed the whole pandemic was all a hoax. He downplayed the need for masks and he failed to encourage widespread vaccination.
Crazy, right? We laughed. But Abutaleb and Paletta take a more somber view.
“One of the biggest flaws in the Trump administration’s response is that no one was in charge of the response… Was it Birx, the task force coordinator? Was it Pence, head of the task force? Was it Trump, the boss? Was it Kushner, running the shadow task force until he wasn’t? Was it Marc Short or Mark Meadows, often at odds, rarely in sync?… Ultimately, there was no accountability, and the response was rudderless”
Yeah, Ann Wagner, people need to be held responsible for making the pandemic much worse than it needed to be.
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]]>That we live in an unequal world is nothing new. Now, though, that reality may have unpredictable consequences for all of us. We are living through a pandemic and desperately waiting for vaccines to help us put an end to this endurance marathon we find ourselves running.
As the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine becomes the first to be approved in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Saudi Arabia, Mexico and Bahrain, anxiety is spreading in other parts of the world. The world’s capacity for vaccine production is limited, and the buying power of low and middle-income countries cannot match that of wealthier nations. Even though a rallying cry during the pandemic has been that No one is safe until everyone is safe, people in less well-off countries may have to wait until the middle of the decade to be vaccinated. In that scenario, the threat of Covid might not wane for several years despite the approval of vaccines.
As Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, reminds us:
Only once COVID-19 vaccines are available to priority populations in all countries around the world will we bring the pandemic under control.
Amnesty International reports that Rich countries have bought up enough doses to vaccinate their entire populations nearly 3 times over. Deutsche Welle (DW,) Germany’s international broadcaster, points out that the claim is somewhat misleading:
The claim assumes that all vaccines will pass clinical trials and be approved. Although more affluent countries have signed agreements with leading vaccination companies, the global scramble to secure doses occurred well before their safety and efficacy were established. While doses have been reserved, this does not necessarily mean that all companies will produce an effective vaccine that is then approved. In short, doses have been reserved for vaccines that are still being tested.
Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine, which is much desired as it is given in a one-shot dose, is, as of yet, unapproved anywhere. But the U.S. has pre-ordered 200 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, Canada has a bid in for 38 million doses, and the U. K. has ordered 30 million doses.
And the US has preordered 100 million doses of Moderna’s vaccine, Canada 56 million doses and the UK 50 million. The Moderna vaccine has the advantage of being 94 percent effective and can be distributed more easily than the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, as it remains stable at minus 20 Celsius for up to six months. The vaccine maintains potency in a standard refrigerator for up to a month. And yet, no Latin American country has preordered the Moderna vaccine, even though Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Peru and Mexico are among the countries most impacted by Covid. Why not? The simple answer is cost. The Moderna vaccine is the most expensive in the marketplace and out of the reach of many.
The European Union had ordered 300 million doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, as of Nov. 11. Japan wants 120 million doses, and the U.S. has bought 100 million doses. AstraZeneca/Oxford offered to deliver their vaccine at a no-profit price, which offered hope to developing countries, but their vaccine has run into problems. Released Phase 3 data confused more than assured many, and their trials are being repeated. Countries that had preordered only the AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine were left scrambling.
The Russian Sputnik V is a possibility. Sputnik V, also known as the Gamaleya vaccine, has been given short shrift in higher-income countries. Even though Russia has done pioneering work on vaccines in the past, when Russia fast-forwarded approval of its Sputnik V vaccine before Phase 3 trials were complete, many raised an eyebrow. Even so, early data on the Sputnik V vaccine suggest that it is 92% effective according to the BBC. Russia began offering broad Sputnik V immunizations to its citizens this past week. There were few takers. Distrust of the government is so widespread that 59 percent of Russians say they have no intention of getting a shot, the New York Times reports. Yet, this disparaged vaccine might just be the salvation of millions. Right now, we just don’t know. Just in case, Brazil has ordered 50 million doses, Mexico 32 million, Argentina 25 million and Venezuela 10 million.
A number of Chinese vaccines are also candidates. The efficacy of the Chinese Sinovac vaccine will not be known until January. Nevertheless, the Sinovac vaccine and Sinopharm, another Chinese vaccine, have been administered under emergency-use orders in China since as early as last July. More than 1 million Chinese have been vaccinated with the Sinopharm vaccine. On December 9, the Sinopharm vaccine was registered in the United Arab Emirates after it was found to be 86% effective in Phase 3 trials there. Bahrain approved the use of the Sinopharm vaccine on Dec 10. Morocco has said that it will initially rely on the Sinopharm vaccine for its plan to vaccinate 80% of its adult population. The Philippines plans to vaccinate 9 million people with the Sinovac vaccine. Chile has ordered 60 million doses of the Sinovac vaccine, and Brazil another 46 million. Mexico has just signed an agreement to buy 35 million doses of another unapproved Chinese product, CanSino Biologics’ COVID-19 vaccine.
It is worth noting that, as of mid-November 2020, no country in sub-Saharan Africa had made any prepurchase agreements for any COVID-19 vaccines in development.
COVAX AMC (Advance Market Commitment) is a vaccine purchasing fund led by Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) and the WHO. COVAX was established to support vaccine development and to try to level the playing field of vaccine accessibility worldwide. So far, COVAX has secured 700 million doses of vaccine to distribute among its 92 low-income country members. The EU, the UK and Canada have been key financial contributors to COVAX, as has the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The United States had not participated.
The inequality inherent in the rich country poor country vaccine availability divide has pushed India and South Africa to petition the World Trade Organization to temporarily suspend certain intellectual property rights and medical patents in order to speed up COVID-19 vaccine production in less wealthy areas of the world, at least until herd immunity is achieved. And a group called the People’s Vaccine Alliance, a coalition of organizations including Free the Vaccine, the Yunus Centre, Frontline AIDS, Oxfam, SumOfUs and UNAIDS, is spearheading the call for COVID-19 vaccines free from patents. This group is asking for the fair allocation of vaccines, the prevention of vaccine monopolies, and vaccines available to all, everywhere, free of charge.
In the meantime, in their paper published in the medical journal The Lancet (Nov. 2020), Roy M Anderson, Carolin Vegvari, James Truscott and Benjamin S Collyer remind us of the unwelcome reality of the conundrum we find ourselves in:
Data on immunity to other coronaviruses suggest that immunity to SARS-CoV-2 might be short lived, perhaps 12–18 months in duration. Whether past infection will prevent severe COVID-19 on re-exposure to SARS-CoV-2 is not known at present.
In other words, even after herd immunity is achieved, vaccination against COVID-19 might need to become an annual jab.
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]]>In quarantine here in Bogotá, the days flow into more days.
But sometimes the routine of sameness is broken up. At a certain moment, live amplified mariachis playing in front of my building can break into song without warning.
Mariachis, and Bogotá has many, have a long tradition here. It used to be that mariachis congregated in one area of the city, along Avenida Caracas in the 50’s blocks. Anybody celebrating an aniversary, a birthday or a surprise event could drive up and hire a group of mariachi musicians right off the street, and the mariachis would follow the hirer to his of her home where they would suddenly burst into song outside the window of the surprised. This usually happened at night to increase the surprise.
Quarantine has changed all that. Nobody is driving to Avenida Caracas to hire mariachis anymore. The business model has changed.
Now the mariachis are wandering the streets of Bogotá playing in front of random buildings, looking for customers in broad daylight, hoping aginst hope that someone will hire them and pay them for their music.
They are not alone.
Other musicians of all variety have begun doing the same. At any time of the day, there can be a sudden eruption of music on the streets outside. Today there was a very powerful drumming ensemble. I had never heard this sound nor this vibration before and was unsure at first about what was going on. My cats were equally unsure and raced to the windows. These were amplified drummers looking to impress, and they did, and again looking to drum up business, and again in need of money.
Colombia is going through one of the longest quarantines in the world. 2 other Latin American countries, Peru and Argentina, are in the same boat. In Bogotá, we started our quarantine early, mid-March, and we are still going strong. Colombia’s President Duque said this week that 57% of Colombians, out of a population of 50 million, are still living their lives in self-isolation. And our quarantine countrywide, just now, has been extended till the end of August. Occupancy in ICU’s in Bogotá is hovering at about 90%, and our peak is not expected for some more weeks.
Vehicular traffic on the street outside my building is minimal; there are at times delivery trucks, taxis and some cars. Quarantine has been a boon for food and supermarket delivery services, so there are often motorcycle deliverers, bicycle deliverers and even pedestrian deliverers coming and going. I see people walk their dogs, and some people, though not many, going out with shopping bags and coming back from the supermarket with their shopping bags full.
Sometimes our quarantine has been strict, only one person per household allowed out at a time for essentials such as groceries, banking or pharmacy purchases. And sometimes our quarantine has been more relaxed though the city still maintains a control that only allows those whose national identification number ends in an even number to go out for needed services on even dates, and those whose ID’s end in an odd number to go out on odd dates.
And in this way, we go on. Days flow into more days.
Every so often, there are desperate shouts from those in dire straits walking the streets. Help us! they cry out. We need food, we need help! Men and women are wandering the city begging for help.
But we are in the middle of a pandemic with an uncertain future. Few are in a position to offer scarce money to all of those asking for help, and to those who might come tomorrow encouraged by those who got something today.
Others come by my building, shouting Eucalipto from the street. They are selling eucaliptus leaves. Colombians have a soothing belief in the power of eucaliptus to cleanse the body. I’m all in, but I haven’t gone down to the gate of my building to buy Eucalipto leaves yet.
People have been telling me for months that I have to go out.
You need to leave your apartment, many have said. Go and walk about your neighborhood. Feel the sun on your skin!
My psychologist has advised the same.
For months, I felt no pressing need to heed their advice. But I went out last week for the first time in four and a half months. I put on my N95 mask, my doorman opened the gate of my building and I was free. I walked downhill, knowing full well that I would have to retrace my steps uphill to get home. My mask felt tight on my face, and that was good. I felt protected. I walked about my Chapinero Alto neighborhood in Bogotá, feeling my breath pushing out and pulling in within my mask, not exactly comfortable but not completely unbearable either.
I found a city transformed.
Restaurants that defined the Zona G, the Gourmet dining area of the city, are now not only shuttered, but decimated, their furnishings removed, their windows displaying For Rent/ Space Available signs. The local Starbucks store and other coffee shops were open for to-go only; their indoor seating areas were blocked off for all. Some other restaurants have banners plastered across their facades large enough for passing motorists or bus passengers to see their phone numbers and their now Deliveries Only presence. It’s clear that many restaurants are gone forever. And gone with them the employment they offered to so many. Seeing this new ragged restaurant reality impacted and saddened me.
Corner grocery stores were open. These mom and pop stores have no choice. They open or they go hungry. Taxis were still parked on both sides of 65th Street; their drivers were still congregated in front of the small storefront where they take their coffee on break. Nobody was actually drinking coffee. The drivers wore masks, but there was no social distancing; they were just chatting as close together as before. These are the same drivers who might show up if I ever requested taxi service, those professing their taxi disinfected and their willingness to serve. I am not, other than in an extreme emergency, going to be calling a cab anytime soon.
I stopped in at a vegetable store that had clear guidelines on how to self-distance and shop posted at the entrance. Many stores here are completely open to the street with neither doors nor windows during business hours, so there is ventilation. I paid for my vegetables in cash – fresh avocados for the first time in months – and put the change into a separate pocket of my jacket where is stayed isolated for many days.
In complete contrast to the United States, since March there have been no passenger flights, other than humanitarian, within or to or from Colombia. There is no intercity bus service, the most common way for Colombians to travel. In fact there is no interstate, or interdepartment as it is here, travel without special permission for extenuating circumstances. Where you happened to be toward the end of March is pretty much where you are today.
And so for the moment, the days flow into new days, one day not at all unlike the day before.
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]]>It’s already starting to happen. The healing. The power to love one another. The excitement of a shared commitment. The sense of wholeness when we know we belong to something larger than ourselves. It’s been a long time coming, but the blossoms are opening. No one can take this from us now.
Governor Andrew Cuomo of New York keeps telling us we are going to defeat the “beast” of this virus epidemic and come out the other end better and stronger. It’s tragic that it has taken such a scourge to wake us up to the damage we’ve done to ourselves and our planet, but better late than never.
This is one very short version of how we got to the point of electing a con man as president: During the Great Depression of the 1930’s, American leaders turned to the ideas of British economist John Maynard Keynes. He taught that the best way to stimulate a moribund economy was to increase government spending and lower taxes. The Roosevelt administration developed dozens and then, eventually, hundreds of different programs to help individual citizens succeed and prosper. Basic necessities were subsidized. Unions built a comfortable life for workers. A sense of community flourished on the local level. And “Happy Days are Here Again” became the national theme song, at least for European Americans.
Post-World War II became “the American century,” partly because most of the other powerful nations had been laid low by the war. With basic necessities such as food and shelter being met for most citizens, the need for more progress became apparent, and we entered the age of Aquarius. Giving birth is never easy, but the heroes of the civil rights, women’s rights, Native American rights struggles helped us keep our eyes on the prize of equality and opportunity for everyone. We had time to study the environment and recognize the damage we were doing to Mother Earth.
So, what happened to Camelot? How did we get from loving our planet and each other to a hundred thousand of us dying from an unseen virus?
In short, some very smart people wanted to become even richer than they already were and financed a plan to tap into the less humanitarian parts of our human nature. They turned to economists like Milton Friedman who preached the philosophy of limited government, personal freedom and winner takes all. Using emotionally charged issues, they cornered the market on voter turnout.
Over time, our more advanced sense of humanitarianism and cooperative behavior began to fade, and folks became downright suspicious of government and each other. We became more interested in stroking our own egos, living the good life, and filling the void in our lives with compulsive consumerism.
And while we were looking forward to weekends and partying, we didn’t notice that very few of us were accumulating a larger and larger share of the wealth we were all creating.
The rich got richer and the poor got poorer over the last few decades. No one can deny that. Automation, globalization and the dismantling of our common bonds brought us to a dark place where murder and suicide now outnumber deaths from some of the major diseases. As the virus spreads across the country, people are buying guns, and domestic violence is a major issue. In short, we are a sick society.
But the pandemic has also given us time to examine our lives, our culture and our future. Despite the damage being done by a tiny virus, we’ve re-imagined a society based on cooperation, sacrifice and love. We are rewriting our common story without even being aware of it. “We are all in this together.”
We’ve seen many examples of shared community on TV:
…using 3 D printers to make face masks
…organizing virtual meetings, family gatherings, church services
…adapting to online learning, expanding broadband
…turning face mask sewing into an artistic competition
…adjusting to working from home and saving on gas
…individual singers and instrumentalists combining their talents online (How do they do that?
…New ways of celebrating traditional events such as birthdays and graduations
…Neighborhood parties with social distancing, drive in theaters for live concerts
…Eager participation in local outreach efforts such as food drives, checking on neighbors, delivering food and medicine to senior citizens
The epidemic has also brought to our attention issues that have been simmering behind the scenes for a long time. The good news is that we are now more open to solving some of those problems.
Gov. Cuomo has filled the role of moral leader left vacant by the White House during this national tragedy. One issue he is addressing head on is the disproportionate effect of this virus on communities of color. Working with church leaders in the hardest hit neighborhoods, the NYC public health department has set up testing sites in those churches to track the virus. The plan is to go well beyond serving those communities during the epidemic. What they learn and accomplish can be replicated in other parts of the country.
The pandemic has brought our attention also to the appalling conditions in some Native American communities. “Navajo Nation,” in the Southwest, has one of the highest rates of disease and death caused by COVID-19. The question is: How is it possible that people living in the richest country in the world don’t have immediate access to potable water? The governor of Arizona is doing all she can with state resources, but the Indian Health Service (part of HHS) is AWOL. This can and will be fixed with a Democratic president in the White House.
Pollution is bad in most of our country but much worse in cities. Now is the time to address urban health issues, especially those affecting children. We’ve known for decades about the rates of asthma in big cities and how children have to miss school on “orange alert” days. Decades ago, when we were, as a society, sincerely interested in making life better for everyone, a big campaign forced paint companies to remove lead from their products because it causes damage to children’s brains. Now imagine a campaign like that directed at fossil fuel companies and other polluters.
We see on TV the before and after photos of polluted cities. When people work from home and don’t drive or use public transit, the air is cleaner and healthier. Now is the perfect time to revive the enthusiasm for saving the environment that began in the 1970’s. For starters, our new president must rejoin the Paris Climate Agreement and begin repairing our relationships around the world. Environmental groups have been stigmatized by the big polluters, but we can gradually change that with our support of those organizations. Imagine the creativity of our younger generations and how much they can accomplish in a short time.
“Going to prison shouldn’t be a death sentence.” Sadly, it took a deadly virus to bring prison reform front and center for discussion. The prison industrial complex, aided and abetted by businesses looking for cheap labor, must be thoroughly examined. There is nothing “correctional” about a system that traps people during a pandemic.
Just as shockingly, we’ve been forced to learn about the inhumane treatment of immigrant laborers, especially in meat packing plants. This is the time for Congress to finally face the need for comprehensive immigration reform and for us to elect a president who will inspire that effort. And, yes, it’s time to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour.
Health care…. It’s time to detach health insurance from employment. This issue received plenty of attention during the Democratic debates, but the loss of work due to the pandemic now demonstrates why we need guaranteed medical care for everyone.
Many of us shook our heads watching tens of thousands of pounds of food being plowed under for lack of markets. Milk had to be dumped too. This was happening as people out of work were lining up at food banks. It’s time for some federal agency to work out a plan for transportation and distribution of food, not just in case of another pandemic, but also for the next wave of climate induced weather disasters.
We need a new story to tell ourselves what we expect our “new normal” to look like. It’s pretty obvious we are never going back to the America of 2019. And that’s a good thing because we have the opportunity now to rewrite our vision of the future. What have we learned from the worst disaster to hit our country since the Great Depression? In a way, we are seeing many of the same problems… hunger, homelessness, high unemployment, a fractured political system that plagued us back then.
As described above, we, the people, have risen to the challenge of facing this epidemic head on. When hospital workers needed us, we rushed in to help. When leadership at the national level failed us, we organized and did amazing things in our own communities. This new spirit of togetherness and service to others has rekindled the love of community that was stolen from us in recent decades.
Now we can build on those local connections/
Suggestions:
…Get to know someone new and different…. There is a wonderful example in St. Louis each Christmas Day when Jewish and Muslim neighbors work together on hundreds of local projects while giving Christians a day to celebrate their holiday. The best way to reduce our fear of others or discomfort with people we are not used to being with is to work together on some local project of mutual interest. Local elected officials can facilitate these connections.
…Promote the arts…. As President Kennedy said, “When power corrupts, poetry cleanses, for art establishes the basic human truths which must serve as the touchstones of our judgement.” Those who want to control us work constantly to confuse us with “alternative facts,” emotional distractions and ways to tempt out that lower part of human nature. Why else would they be promoting competitive and increasingly violent forms entertainment as “sports”? Why do they insist on cutting funding for the National Endowment for the Arts, National Public Radio and Public Television? Why is it, when school budgets come under the knife, it’s always the arts that go first? Think about it. Remember the Maslow hierarchy of needs? Once we are fed and housed, we yearn for something psychologically and spiritually satisfying.
…Offer people a chance to be part of the decision-making process locally and nationally. We need to work on expanding voter participation starting with teaching some form of civics (and not just a “course” in it) to children and teenagers. Given the natural desire to join forces to help one another shown during the pandemic, this should be an obvious next step. Maybe we can reimagine how local government works to bring more citizens into the decision-making process. How do we include non-citizens who are essential members of our community and who pay taxes?
…Finally and most importantly, we need to rewrite the story we live by. George Monbiot, writer for the London Guardian, has written about this extensively. He describes the toxic ideology of extreme competition and individualism that has come to dominate the world that must change if we are to build a healthier society. What is needed now is the same “story” people needed in past centuries after a cataclysmic disaster laid them low. Monbiot calls it the “restoration story.” We obviously need to restore the foundation of a healthy economy that meets people’s basic needs. But, more than that, we need to listen to those better angels of our human nature Lincoln spoke about and create a new politics of belonging. The Biden campaign slogan has already been written: We are all in this together.
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]]>This morning’s New York Times roundup, by David Leonhart, mentioned a blog post by a Dartmouth biologist, Erin S. Bromage: The Risks – Know Them – Avoid Them. It is an excellent explanation of the role of time, airflow, viral density in spread of disease. A little math, lots of science and some references to serious papers. It contains some very practical information: basically, avoid enclosed spaces where you might spend time with other people. Worth a read.
Here are some excerpts:
Indoor spaces, with limited air exchange or recycled air and lots of people, are concerning from a transmission standpoint. We know that 60 people in a volleyball court-sized room (choir) results in massive infections. Same situation with the restaurant and the call center. Social distancing guidelines don’t hold in indoor spaces where you spend a lot of time, as people on the opposite side of the room were infected.
The principle is viral exposure over an extended period of time. In all these cases, people were exposed to the virus in the air for a prolonged period (hours). Even if they were 50 feet away (choir or call center), even a low dose of the virus in the air reaching them, over a sustained period, was enough to cause infection and in some cases, death.
Social distancing rules are really to protect you with brief exposures or outdoor exposures. In these situations there is not enough time to achieve the infectious viral load when you are standing 6 feet apart or where wind and the infinite outdoor space for viral dilution reduces viral load.
… When assessing the risk of infection (via respiration) at the grocery store or mall, you need to consider the volume of the air space (very large), the number of people (restricted), how long people are spending in the store (workers – all day; customers – an hour). Taken together, for a person shopping: the low density, high air volume of the store, along with the restricted time you spend in the store, means that the opportunity to receive an infectious dose is low. But, for the store worker, the extended time they spend in the store provides a greater opportunity to receive the infectious dose and therefore the job becomes more risky.
… Basically, as the work closures are loosened, and we start to venture out more, possibly even resuming in-office activities, you need to look at your environment and make judgments. How many people are here, how much airflow is there around me, and how long will I be in this environment. If you are in an open floorplan office, you really need critically assess the risk (volume, people, and airflow). … If you are sitting in a well ventilated space, with few people, the risk is low.
…If I am outside, and I walk past someone, remember it is “dose and time” needed for infection. You would have to be in their airstream for 5+ minutes for a chance of infection.
Be careful out there.
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]]>800,000 doctors are telling Donald Trump that his “plan” to reopen businesses by Easter is a bad idea. In a letter delivered to Trump on March 27, 2020, organizations representing American physicians in a vast range of specialties voiced their concerns about ending social distancing as COVID-19 continues to spread across the US and has killed at least 1,000 people.
The letter came in response to Trump’s publicly declared preference for ending social distancing and having the economy up and running by Easter, a date he chose because he sees it as “a beautiful time,” and because, it has been reported, he has grown impatient with being cooped up in the White House and unable to hold the big campaign rallies that he thrives on.
“Federal, state and local governments should only set a date for lifting nationwide social distancing restrictions consistent with assessments by public health and medical experts,” the letter said. “Lifting restrictions sooner will gravely jeopardize the health of all Americans and extend the devastation of the COVID-10 pandemic.”
Here is the full text of the letter and the list of signers.
CMSS Statement on Restrictions to Slow the COVID-19 Pandemic
March 27, 2020
Dear President Trump, Vice President Pence, and Ambassador Birx:
Thank you for actively engaging the health care community—particularly the nation’s physicians and the organizations that represent them—in addressing the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States.
As more than 800,000 physicians across more than 40 specialties in medicine, we continue to support travel and gathering restrictions to slow the transmission of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Physicians, other health professionals, and staff are putting themselves in harm’s way without adequate personal protective equipment or necessary tools (such as ventilators) as well as with no proven treatment or vaccine for the virus.
Significant COVID-19 transmission continues across the United States, and we need your leadership in supporting science-based recommendations on social distancing that can slow the virus. Our societies have closely adhered to these measures by moving our staff to fulltime telework and canceling in-person meetings (including annual meetings). These actions have helped to keep physicians and other health professionals in health care facilities, including hospitals, and reduce the risk of spreading COVID-19.
Statewide efforts alone will not sufficiently control this public health crisis. A strong nationwide plan that supports and enforces social distancing—and recognizes that our health and our economy are inextricably linked—should remain in place until public health and medical experts indicate it can be lifted.
Federal, state, and local governments should only set a date for lifting nationwide social distancing restrictions consistent with assessments by public health and medical experts. Lifting restrictions sooner will gravely jeopardize the health of all Americans and extend the devastation of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Again, thank you for actively engaging the nation’s physicians and the organizations that represent them. We appreciate your considering these comments and welcome an opportunity for further dialogue.
Sincerely,
Council of Medical Specialty Societies
American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology
American Academy of Dermatology
American Academy of Family Physicians
American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine
American Academy of Neurology
American Academy of Ophthalmology
American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons
American Academy of Pediatrics
American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation
American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists
American College of Cardiology
American College of Emergency Physicians
American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics
American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists
American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine
American College of Physicians
American College of Preventive Medicine
American College of Radiology
American College of Rheumatology
American College of Surgeons
American Epilepsy Society
American Gastroenterological Association
American Geriatrics Society
American Medical Informatics Association
American Psychiatric Association
American Society of Anesthesiologists
American Society for Clinical Pathology
American Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeons
American Society of Hematology
American Society of Nephrology
American Society for Radiation Oncology
American Society for Reproductive Medicine
American Thoracic Society
American Urological Association
Association for Clinical Oncology
Infectious Diseases Society of America
North American Spine Society
Society of Critical Care Medicine
Society of Gynecologic Oncology
Society of Hospital Medicine
Society of Interventional Radiology
Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging
Society of Thoracic Surgeons
Society for Vascular Surgery
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