To the editor:

I am outraged and I think every thinking person should be! Coronavirus or Covid-19 is now spreading worldwide including within the USA. But how many people are aware that our government is refusing to do the testing or community surveillance as it is called that could inform Americans when to start taking measures to avoid exposure.

I am a physician. My profession is to help people lead healthy lives. But my government is refusing to allow me or any other physician to order a test to identify infection with coronavirus! All decisions about who will be tested are being made by an agency of the government controlled by politicians. And in order to satisfy the politicians in control they are simply refusing to do the testing that would identify local outbreaks.

Very few tests have been done in the US. In other countries around the world there are 10s of thousands of tests being done daily. Not here though. The one patient here in the US known to have coronavirus from community spread was sick enough to be on a ventilator yet even when doctors begged the cdc to test her they refused. They finally relented after several days and the results were made public Wednesday just after our president had boasted on tv that such cases were not occurring here. This patients illness implies that other people, possibly many others, also are infected. But without widespread testing we cannot know.

In past epidemics presidents of both parties have told the scientists and medical professionals to tell the truth. The politicians have cleared their statements with the professionals to insure accuracy. Now the opposite is occurring. The White House is demanding that people at CDC and NIH must clear their statements with the politicians first presumably so they can maintain control of the news.

I urge everyone of both parties to demand truth from our government and expect real leadership rather than self serving attempts to guarantee their own re-election at the cost of the lives and health of the citizens.

Editor’s note: This letter was submitted a little over a week ago.