800,000 Doctors To Trump: Heed Expert Warnings & End Campaign Against Social Distancing
'800,000 Doctors to Trump: Heed Expert Warnings and End Dangerous Campaign Against Social Distancing.' "We need your leadership in supporting science-based recommendations on social distancing that can slow the virus." Common Dreams, March 28, 2020.
A council representing more than 800,000 doctors across the U.S. signed a letter Friday imploring President Donald Trump to reverse his call for businesses to reopen by April 12, warning that the president's flouting of the guidance of public health experts could jeopardize the health of millions of Americans and throw hospitals into even more chaos as they fight the coronavirus pandemic.
- Photo: Certified Registered Nurses Kimberly Scheider, left, and Debbie Jessell, right, walk up to a patient's car before starting the test at Penn State Health St. Joseph where they are conducting drive through coronavirus / COVID-19 testing and have taken extra precautions regarding entry to the hospital, in Bern Township, PA Friday afternoon March 27, 2020.
The Council of Medical Specialty Societies—a coalition comprised of such physicians' groups as the American College of Emergency Physicians, the Society of Critical Care Medicine, and the American College of Preventive Medicine—called for the president's leadership in encouraging Americans to continue practicing social distancing to slow the spread of the coronavirus, officially known as COVID-19.
This statement from 800,000 physicians asks Trump to not lift social distancing restrictions until public health and medical experts properly assess because it would "gravely jeopardize the health of all Americans and extend the devastation of the COVID-19 pandemic." pic.twitter.com/j3GifOvSou — Jenna Amatulli (@ohheyjenna) March 27, 2020
"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," the council wrote. "Statewide efforts alone will not sufficiently control this public health crisis."
While governors and mayors across the country have issued shelter-in-place orders to the public and warned their communities that it could take several weeks of vigilance—with restaurants and schools closed and many people leaving home only for essentials—in order to "flatten the curve" and slow the spread of the virus, Trump said Monday he wants businesses across the country to reopen by Easter.
"You'll have packed churches all over our country. I think it would be a beautiful time," Trump said this week about his target of Easter, interpreted by some as a nod to evangelical Christian voters. Last weekend the president also suggested that the "cure" of temporarily shutting down businesses would be "worse than the disease,” which has killed more than 1,500 Americans so far and has sickened nearly 100,000...
More, https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/03/28/800000-doctors-trump-heed-expert-warnings-and-end-dangerous-campaign-against-social
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