DOCTORS' LOUNGE
DOCTORS' LOUNGE
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THE DEAD ARE NOT A HOAX AUTHOR Mary Barry, MD
F
rom the beginning of this novel
coronavirus (COVID-19) pandem-
ic, the failure of this administration
to protect Americans has grown and
grown. It focused first on protecting
stock prices. In late February, the
President tweeted, “The coronavirus
is very much under control in the USA. CDC
& World Health have been working hard and very smart. Stock
Market starting to look very good to me!”
While in India, the President told reporters, “I think that whole
situation will start working out. We’re very close to a vaccine.” The
CDC responded that a COVID-19 vaccine is not likely to appear
before mid-2021.
Three days later, the President appeared at a rally in South Caro-
lina and claimed, “The Democrats are politicizing the coronavirus.
They tried the impeachment hoax, and this is their new hoax.”
I doubt that the loved ones of Americans dead from COVID-19
would agree. There are thousands of people in mourning in too
many countries already, and millions more who are afraid of dying
from this disease.
The CDC’s ability to respond to this viral onslaught had already
been attacked by the current administration. In March 2018, key
officials for the CDC’s rapid response team were fired and were
not replaced. Also in 2018, the CDC lost 80% of its funding for
global health security teams, experts who worked in countries that
pandemics come from, including China. Additionally, the Complex
Crises Fund, a $30 million emergency fund that could be direct-
ed immediately to deploy disease experts, was discontinued. The
President called for $15 billion more in cuts to previously-approved
health funding.
As I write this in early March, Italy has just moved to the sec-
ond-most cases in the world, with nearly 7,400 ill and 366 dead. By
the time you read this, those numbers will be much higher.
We frontline doctors—primary care, urgent care, emergency
room doctors—are afraid to miss this diagnosis and are angry at the
cumbersome process of testing for it. South Korea had drive-thru
testing for over a week before we even got the ability to test in our
own state. We cannot test people without the permission of the
health department. We have to call the Infectious Disease team
before that, even. As of early March, we have no tests on-site; they
must be transported to us, or the patient sent via EMS to the health
department.
We understand that our production of an accurate test was
hampered in the extreme by understaffing and underfunding at the
CDC, with contaminated tests and failures of early tests frustrat-
ing everyone who needed an answer, now. Seattle, with the many
deaths in Washington state, developed its own test in a matter of
weeks and is using it. As I write this, New York Gov. Cuomo is still
waiting for permission from the CDC to allow seven private labs
in the state to begin testing; the New York state cases totaled 106
today. Imagine the real number of cases if we could swab everybody,
as for the flu! If a test is costly, forget it. People will simply refuse
and the opportunity to prevent the spread of infection will be lost.
We see people daily with COVID-19 symptoms: achy/feel bad/
sniffly/ feverish/coughing. Who just has a cold? Who is just a normal
Louisvillian who wheezes when they get sick? Who might have a
military daughter who came home on leave from the Philippines?
Who might have a UPS spouse who flies the Atlantic routes? Who
might have a son who is a long-distance truck driver, one who
crosses the country twice a week? (Imagine trying contact tracing
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