I am a urologist, I graduated from medical school 50 years ago, and I continue to practice medicine every day of the week. I have never done so before, but I feel compelled to speak out.
COVID-19, as we all know, has killed many people, and it will continue to do so around the world. It is an embarrassment that our country, the richest and most powerful in the world, is impotent when it comes to doing simple measures that can limit the spread of this deadly virus.
Social distancing, wearing masks while in public, and hand hygiene are certainly key to controlling this disease. If everyone, and I mean everyone, did those practices, the virus would wither.
Since too many people cannot get this simple set of facts to change their behavior and the virus remains rampant, we must have available testing and test kits with a turnaround time for positive results is less than 12 hours. And we need an adequate number of contact tracers to get a handle on small outbreaks before they spread to the greater community.
What has truly motivated me to speak out at this time is that Donald Trump, our fearless leader, wants to defund the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
That agency actually keeps the statistics and monitors the location where outbreaks are emerging so that we can inform the public about increases in risk to illness. Mr. Trump reportedly wants to cut off funding for testing and contact tracing. From my point of view, it is as if he wants to kill more Americans than he and his administration are already responsible for in his negligence thus far.
Mr. Trump must be removed from this seat of power and stopped from causing more harm through the policies he has dictated and the misuse of funding to support his special interests instead of keeping the health and well-being of our citizens at the forefront of our efforts.
Please note: Until that time, we need to take care of each other and remember that the people's power comes from voting in November.