DÉJÀ VU ALL OVER AGAIN

How did we get here? The shutdowns and stay at home orders supposed to flatten the curve and provide time to stock up and equip states with test capabilities, PPE, and ventilators.  Peter Navarro, the trade advisor to Trump, is responsible for the coordination of supplies and PPE for the pandemic.  The eight weeks of sheltering in place were spent on how to have companies make profits and not providing any strategic planning for production and distribution. 

Southern States and California have had resurgences and are at near-record levels of hospitalizations.  These states have now clamored for additional PPE and testing and a potential shortage of ventilators. Blame Trump for providing Russia with 5,000 ventilators when he thought we had enough. The White House is dusting off their re-use protocols for single use PPE equipment. This action is due to these new shortages, that should have been avoided by expedited manufacturing during the last 16 weeks. 

The 50 state goat grope vying for and chasing after PPE suppliers and distributors should have been resolved by now. At this time the only way to provide a rational solution, is for the states taking on the challenge of combining and providing a cohesive plan, which will be for the governors to meet and solve the obvious lack of leadership at the top. 

Testing is still not sufficiently available to provide those who want a test to get a test…even after all this time. In order to be effective, it’s imperative to have immediate results and thus community spreading. Testing and PPE are critical for opening schools without fear of a health risk for everyone.

The school openings are in a catch 22. The CDC guidelines for opening provides for onerous and costly adjustments to open safely. The costs for these adjustments are being held up in a bill that addresses state and local expenses covering for Covid-19 protections. The holdup is due to Senator Moscow Mitch’s unwillingness to have the Senate vote on the bi-partisan bill, already passed by the House.

Unless schools resume on-campus classes, foreign students will have their student visas revoked and thus be deported. This is a blatant ploy to force schools to open and appear to boost the economy, putting the health of everyone involved at risk. Does Trump not realize he has made a giant chasm between himself and the medical professionals?    

Trump’s pointing to Europe opening their schools and now wanting U.S. schools open, without doing the preparation or the hard work Europeans did to open safely. In the EU states, school administrators and school unions all got together to work out the necessary preparation prior to opening safely.  The infection rates for the EU is almost 1000 times less than ours.  They did the hard work of leadership and following professional medical experts without being an option.

Trump still defies his own CDC school opening guidelines, with a laser focus on opening to assist the economic recovery at the cost of public health. Opening schools eliminates the need for DIY child care and frees parents to again become employees. Does he care about the health of the students, teachers, administrators, parents and grandparents?  No!

States opened the economy prematurely and now we are at Covid positive levels beyond the previous record numbers daily.  States opened beaches restaurant and bars and it backfired. The Tulsa rally has spawned cases in Tulsa and is now experiencing the effects.  States are back to square one and we still do not have a cogent plan to recover. 

Trump pressured everyone to open despite the CDC guidelines. States have a penchant for prematurely opening. We in the United States can be seen as an example for the whole world as how NOT to respond to any medical emergency. We’re # 1! Will the school openings be another déjà vu moment?