To the editor:

Many Americans see the irony that the president should fall ill with COVID-19. He knew in early February this novel virus was deadly and highly transmissible. In a taped interview with Bob Woodward on Feb. 7, Trump said, “You just breath the air and that’s how it’s passed… It’s also more deadly than even your strenuous flues…this is deadly stuff.” Sparing you the tedium of listing all of his comments down playing the virus and undermining his health officials, he is the primary person for the misinformation that has caused the public to resist efforts to bring this virus under control.

On Oct. 1, a study was released by researchers at Cornell University that analyzed thirty-eight million articles about the pandemic from around the world. Their conclusion: Trump made up 38 percent of the “misinformation conversation,” making the President the largest driver of the “falsehoods” involving the pandemic.

The president has spewed “falsehoods,” undermined mitigation efforts of the CDC, refused to wear a mask, and has belittled those that do (Joe Biden). Playing down the seriousness of the virus to suit his political whims has resulted in people calling this health crisis a “scamdemic” and a “hoax” which justifies their refusal to abide by CDC protocols. Now the “chickens have come home to roost.” The President and 26 White House staff members who have contracted the virus are caught in their own sycophantic hypocrisy. Try telling the families of the 212,000 Americans that have died from this virus it’s a “scamdemic”.

The New England Journal of Medicine has made an unprecedented political statement. “When it comes to the response to the largest public health crisis in our time…our current political leaders have demonstrated that they are dangerously incompetent. We should not…enable the deaths of thousands more Americans by allowing them to keep their jobs.”

The COVID-19 virus is non-partisan. It doesn’t care if you drank Trump’s kool-aid or you are a latte liberal. It is a highly infectious disease. No one is going to save us; certainly not Trump, not the Governor, not even God. The only thing will save us is the responsible actions of each and everyone of us. By now you know the prevention mantra: wear the damn mask, maintain social distance outside your home, wash your hands. This isn’t rocket science, but it is medical science.