Wuhan sacrificed to buy us time. Italy sacrificed to buy us time. Now 100s of millions of Americans are sacrificing their liberty, livelihoods, and wellbeing—which for some will ultimately mean sacrificing their lives—to buy us time. What are our leaders doing with this time?
Where is the plan to manufacture and distribute the #PPE protective gear our health-care workers need to safely stay at the bedside and care for the thousands who are about to be desperately ill?
Where is the plan to manufacture and distribute the #ventilators that will save lives?
Where is the plan for mass #COVID19 testing to identify the undetected hotspots where a surge of health care resources must be deployed and other areas where community transmission is not yet widespread enough to justify draconian infringements on liberty and livelihood?
Criminal mandates to #ShelterInPlace suppress transmission, but suppression is not a viable solution. Without mass testing, #lockdowns may have to be in place for 12-18 months--for the entire population--while we await a vaccine that may never come.
We must use this precious time--bought at great cost to liberty & livelihoods--to deploy other measures. Mass testing is the only path that will allow us to tailor the timing, geographic scope & severity of harsh restrictions to maximize benefits while minimizing harms
Constitutionally protected individual rights are not absolute. In times of crisis--just as in routine times--they are balanced against compelling needs.
The balancing mandated by our Constitution demands that leaders communicate not only the purpose of their actions--which is undeniably compelling--but how the sacrifices Americans are making are being used to further a rational and evidence-based plan to achieve that purpose.
