Dr. Anthony Fauci and other top medical professionals are all stressing the need for comprehensive testing and tracking in order to open up our economy safely and to prevent a return to the rampant spread of COVID-19.
Here in New York, we have been hit very hard by COVID-19. At this point, we need to have comprehensive testing across the board so that we can know who is safe to go back to work, who needs to be quarantined, and to track the people who have been in contact with those infected.
Actually, we always needed comprehensive testing. Months ago, President Trump said (falsely) that anyone who wanted a test could get one. Testing in the U.S. per capita is still far below many, many countries; there are 40 countries that have done more tests per capita, and many of them started earlier, and with tracking. Consequently, they have far fewer deaths per capita than us.
We are supposed to be the greatest country in the world — we should start acting like it.
There is a worldwide pandemic. Every country in the world is competing for scarce personal protective equipment, swabs, test kits, the chemical reagents required to process the tests, as well as the machines to process the tests. President Trump, belatedly, invoked the Defense Production Act on March 20. After a month, Trump has still not utilized it to mass produce the critical components needed for the tests we desperately need. Instead, he tells each of our 50 governors that they are on their own. It makes absolutely no sense.
The states hit hardest by COVID-19 are predominantly blue (Democratic) states, with big cities and large, dense populations. New York State accounts for 46 percent of all COVID-19 deaths in the U.S., and Long Island is a hot spot.
Our congressman, Lee Zeldin, has a very close relationship with Donald Trump. He is one of Trump’s most loyal supporters. He is a member of Trump’s Opening Up America Again Congressional Group. We all want to open up again. But we want to open up safely. Testing and tracking is the prerequisite.
So, Mr. Zeldin, we need you to get Trump to help us get help with testing — and we need the help immediately. Now is a time for action. Now we need you to deliver.
Now is the time for you to get on Fox News and tell President Trump to use the Defense Production Act to produce the requisite components for comprehensive testing. The entire country needs help with testing, and we New Yorkers need it the most. Our lives depend on it.
Dick Sheehan
Westhampton Beach
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