FIX THE FAULTY COVID-19 RESPONSE BEFORE THE NEXT SPIKE
ACTION ONE: CALL YOUR SENATORS
SAMPLE SCRIPT FOR WYDEN AND MERKLEY:
My name is [–] and I’m a constituent from [city], Oregon [zip code]. I am calling because…
…if we are able to bend the curve, we need a better response for the next spike in Covid-19 cases. We need fast testing for 100,000s of samples per day. The CDC, which has been MIA, needs to jump into the fight to provide deeper insight into the evolving outbreak. We need a coordinated national response, not one that pits states against each other. We need a trusted leader to give guidance and updates. And most importantly, we need PPE to protect the health workers who put their lives on the line every day. If the Trump administration can’t do it, then you need to call on states to join together as a unified buyer of supplies and source of information.
CALL SENATOR MERKLEY
CALL SENATOR WYDEN
ACTION TWO: CALL YOUR HOUSE REPS
Not sure who your U.S. Representative is? Find out here.
SAMPLE SCRIPTS FOR REPRESENTATIVES:
My name is [–] and I’m a constituent from [city], Oregon [zip code]. I am calling because…
…if we are able to bend the curve, we need a better response for the next spike in Covid-19 cases. We need fast testing for 100,000s of samples per day. The CDC, which has been MIA, needs to jump into the fight to provide deeper insight into the evolving outbreak. We need a coordinated national response, not one that pits states against each other. We need a trusted leader to give guidance and updates. And most importantly, we need PPE to protect the health workers who put their lives on the line every day. If the Trump administration can’t do it, then you need to call on states to join together as a unified buyer of supplies and source of information.
CALL SUZANNE BONAMICI (OR-01)
CALL GREG WALDEN (OR-02)
CALL BLUMENAUER (OR-03)
CALL PETER DEFAZIO (OR-04)
CALL KURT SCHRADER (OR-05)
ACTION THREE: WRITE TO VOTERS FROM YOUR HOME
Organizing for the 2020 Election is going VIRTUAL!
- Find virtual events at http://swingleft.org/
- Host a virtual letter-writing party! Get started here: http://swingleft.org/p/virtual-letter-writing-party
Stay tuned — more activities to come!
BACKGROUND:
After this first spike in cases is past, we need to identify what went wrong and to fix it before the next spike in cases.
We will start the next phase knowing that the virus is here. The White House was warned back in November that the outbreak in China could be a worldwide “cataclysmic event.” But vital medical equipment was exported for months.
We need:
- a coordinated national response. Currently, states are competing with each other for vital medical equipment. It is a barbaric and immoral system that results in price gouging.
- the CDC unleashed. The CDC, which has an abundance of experience, has been one of the world’s premiere public health organizations, but it has been muzzled.
- a trusted authority. Currently, authorities disagree with each other, often in the White House briefing room. America must be brought together and guided by a trusted political leader.
- a Covid-19 test that is fast, accurate and able to process tens of thousands of samples a day. The current system is a patchwork oflabs that too often provide results after days.
- sufficient personal protection equipment for health workers.
Trump is incapable of leading so Members of Congress must lead the way.
SOURCES:
Washington Post, April 4, 2020: “The U.S. was beset by denial and dysfunction as the coronavirus raged. From the Oval Office to the CDC, political and institutional failures cascaded through the system and opportunities to mitigate the pandemic were lost.” https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2020/04/04/coronavirus-government-dysfunction/?arc404=true
The Hill, April 8, 2020: “US intelligence warned in November that coronavirus spreading in China could be ‘cataclysmic event’: report” https://thehill.com/policy/national-security/intelligence/491712-us-intelligence-warned-in-november-that-virus-spreading
Associated Press, April 6, 2020: “US ‘wasted’ months before preparing for coronavirus pandemic.” https://apnews.com/090600c299a8cf07f5b44d92534856bc
NBC News, April 5, 2020: “Two months in, Trump’s coronavirus response creates more chaos
Analysis: Amid America’s biggest crisis in generations, the president’s actions have often complicated problems rather than resolved them.” https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/two-months-trump-s-coronavirus-response-creates-more-chaos-n1176986
Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, April 3, 2020: “5 Ways the U.S. Botched the Response to COVID-19” https://www.jhsph.edu/covid-19/articles/5-ways-the-us-botched-the-response-to-covid-19.html
Wired, April 6, 2020: “The Asian Countries That Beat Covid-19 Have to Do It Again” https://www.wired.com/story/the-asian-countries-that-beat-covid-19-have-to-do-it-again/?bxid=5cc9dff9fc942d13eb1e6a84&cndid=54804944&esrc=&source=EDT_WIR_NEWSLETTER_0_SCIENCE_ZZ&utm_brand=wired&utm_campaign=aud-dev&utm_mailing=WIR_Science_040620_PaywallSubs&utm_medium=email&utm_source=nl&utm_term=list1_p1
The Atlantic Magazine, April 7, 2020: “This Is Trump’s Fault. The president is failing, and Americans are paying for his failures” https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/04/americans-are-paying-the-price-for-trumps-failures/609532/
USA Today, March 27, 2020: ‘The coronavirus test that wasn’t: How federal health officials misled state scientists and derailed the best chance at containment” https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/investigations/2020/03/27/coronavirus-test-officials-botched-rollout-derailed-containment/5080781002/
Representative Katie Porter, April 6, 2020: “EVERYONE BUT US. TheTrump Administration and Medical Supply Exports” https://porter.house.gov/uploadedfiles/everyone_but_us.pdf
Foreign Policy, March 25, 2020: “The Coronavirus Is the Worst Intelligence Failure in U.S. History. It’s more glaring than Pearl Harbor and 9/11—and it’s all the fault of Donald Trump’s leadership.” https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/03/25/coronavirus-worst-intelligence-failure-us-history-covid-19/
Forbes, March 30, 2020: “I Spent A Day In The Coronavirus-Driven Feeding Frenzy Of N95 Mask Sellers And Buyers And This Is What I Learned” https://www.forbes.com/sites/daviddisalvo/2020/03/30/i-spent-a-day-in-the-coronavirus-driven-feeding-frenzy-of-n95-mask-sellers-and-buyers-and-this-is-what-i-learned/#1fa1815356d4
Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, April 3, 2020: “5 Ways the U.S. Botched the Response to COVID-19” https://www.jhsph.edu/covid-19/articles/5-ways-the-us-botched-the-response-to-covid-19.html
Office of the Inspector General, HHS, April 2020: “Hospital Experiences Responding to the COVID-19 Pandemic: Results of a National Pulse Survey March 23–27, 2020” https://oig.hhs.gov/oei/reports/oei-06-20-00300.pdf
New York Times, March 28, 2020: “The Lost Month: How a failure to test blinded the US to Covid-19” https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/28/us/testing-coronavirus-pandemic.html?utm_source=pocket-newtab
