San Antonio Express-News: Doggett: Trump fails the COVID-19 response test
Let's join with compassion and thoughtful actions to soften the blows of coronavirus. Working together to overcome this catastrophe requires understanding how we got here.
Last year, the Trump administration conducted an important exercise to understand how our country would respond to a respiratory virus pandemic. The resulting October report showed the essential changes required to avoid the very kind of preventable chaos we are now witnessing.
In December, troubling virus reports emerged from Wuhan, China. In January, confidential intelligence reports exposed the lurking pandemic danger to America. Facts were ignored; a Feb. 5 offer to seek emergency funds was rejected, as Trump instead sought to cut funding for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and declared the virus no big deal — only a "Democratic hoax." He has embraced the fire department only after the disease wildfire spread widely. This tragedy was largely preventable or, at least, could have been greatly reduced.
Failure became apparent when the administration brought the first evacuees to Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland without properly notifying local authorities and refusing to keep them on base for testing and treatment, eventually permitting one who tested positive after release to go to North Star Mall.
As additional evacuees arrived, the administration's inability to indicate how many, when and why these individuals had not already been tested in California, and where those belatedly tested would go, displayed further amazing indifference. To date, we have never received the CDC personnel requested by Mayor Ron Nirenberg nor an answer to most of his other very reasonable requests.
The giant credibility gap Trump created with his lie that anybody can get a "beautiful" test has been compounded by the testing that remains unavailable. Our per capita testing rate is only about one-sixth that of South Korea. Without broad testing, we cannot adequately protect against a virus whose attack method is not fully understood.
Nirenberg's postponement of Fiesta shielded us from becoming a hot spot like New Orleans after Mardi Gras. Shuttering businesses, enduring layoffs and remaining at home represent a poor substitute for the comprehensive testing that should have occurred.
Our initial congressional response assured that necessary tests would be free to everyone and provided the funding Trump would not. But even with that effort, many will not have access until midsummer. Though it included hard-won successes over administration resistance, the most recent $2 trillion legislation unfortunately yielded much to Republican senators. It encompasses multiple inequities, inadequate taxpayer bailout and price-gouging protections, and included none of the help for patients that I sought. Ultimately, I reluctantly supported this flawed bill to urgently help small businesses stay afloat and sustain the newly unemployed. Careful congressional monitoring and additional legislation are needed.
Meanwhile, health care professionals lack equipment to protect themselves and us. Of 200 cities, 85 percent reported an inadequate ventilator supply; 91 percent reported an inadequate face-mask supply. Only a month ago, the Trump administration was encouraging export of such equipment. As shortages mounted, Trump tried shifting responsibility to governors to compete for limited supplies and has has been slow to fully utilize his authority to increase production.
Now, millions of Americans are predicted to contract COVID-19, with 100,000 to 200,000 U.S. deaths. Because so many will face substantial bills, insurance is important. With Texas having the most uninsured residents in the nation, I have been pushing to open Affordable Health Care enrollment. The newly unemployed already qualify to obtain such coverage, which often involves low or no-cost premiums. Contact EnrollSA at enrollsa.com or 210-977-7997.
Our local public health officials and health care professionals have done an outstanding job. For a safer future, we must follow these doctors' advice, not politicians who doctor the truth.
Hard times lie ahead. We have no choice but to hunker down, enduring many more days homebound with businesses and schools closed. Our efforts to slow spread of disease can prevent our hospitals from being overwhelmed. While closures cost our economy dearly, until we resolve this health crisis we cannot resolve our economic crisis. People of all ages should reject the bizarre claim of Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick that advancing the economy requires sacrificing our grandparents.
Let's learn from the multiple failures and not be misled by ongoing misrepresentations.We must all do our part. Encourage those working to protect us, assist those most vulnerable, support small businesses still operating. Remember: Stay 6 feet apart from one another, or more Texans will be 6 feet under.
Democratic U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett represents San Antonio.