I don’t know how closely you are watching the news during these days of “sheltering in place” but what is going on with masks, gowns, face shields, and testing kits is utter and complete insanity.

Do you know how many years and how many thousands of dollars it takes to educate and prepare a new RPN? How about a doctor? How about a respiratory therapist? The answer of course is many years and many hundreds of thousands of dollars. So how much does an N95 mask, a face shield, and a protective gown cost? A few dollars. But we are running low or are actually out of the PPE necessary to keep our medical practitioners safe. We are putting the expensive, rare, and precious resource of medical practitioners at risk because our pathetic excuse of a president cannot accept the reality of the fact that we as a nation need and require these resources and they are not forthcoming because he did not do his job!

He should have gone all in with the power that he has to compel manufacturers to produce these materials by implementing the Defense Production Act but he did not do so. The Inspector General in charge of this segment of the economy surveyed doctors, nurses, and managers at almost 400 hospitals across the country. Practically every one of them reported a severe shortage of PPE and dangerous working conditions for the nurses, doctors, and other medical personnel.

Trump’s response was to refer to her as a “never Trumper” and basically call her a liar because she told the truth while he lied and spouted happy talk about how well things are going! Our “fake president” is going to cost us hundreds if not thousands of our brightest and best medical practitioners! It will take many years to replace a generation of caregivers!

Now he wants to “open the economy up” by May 1 or earlier if possible. Not only does he want to restart the economy, he implores us to forget all this unpleasantness. Remember that after 9-11 the motto was “never forget.” This is the absolute worst possible thing that could be done.

As Governor Beshear reminds us every evening at 5 p.m., we are endeavoring to “flatten the curve” by social distancing and staying at home. Trump would give up all that has been gained and initiate a second round of COVID-19 infections.

Jim Porter

Danville