Officials from the nation’s leading health care organizations sent a letter to President Donald Trump urging his administration’s full cooperation in sharing critical COVID-19 information with the Biden transition team.
“As organizations representing the nation’s hospitals and health systems, physicians and registered nurses who remain on the front lines in the battle against COVID-19 and currently caring for tens of thousands of COVID-19 patients, we have been working with your Administration to defeat the pandemic. Now, as new therapeutics and vaccines are being developed and will begin to be deployed, we urge your Administration to work closely with the Biden transition team to share all critical information related to COVID-19,” the letter to Trump stated.
It was signed by the leaders of the American Medical Association (AMA), American Hospital Association (AHA) and American Nurses Association (ANA) — specifically, James Madara CEO at the AMA; Debbie Dawson Hatmaker, acting CEO of the ANA; and Richard Pollack president and CEO of the AHA.
“Our nation is experiencing a new surge of COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, and deaths as we enter into a holiday season that will undoubtedly lead to greater exposure to this deadly virus. Confronting the challenges of the pandemic is imperative to saving American lives. Real-time data and information on the supply of therapeutics, testing supplies, personal protective equipment, ventilators, hospital bed capacity, and workforce availability to plan for further deployment of the nation’s assets needs to be shared to save countless lives. All information about the capacity of the Strategic National Stockpile, the assets from Operation Warp Speed, and plans for dissemination of therapeutics and vaccines needs to be shared as quickly as possible to ensure that there is continuity in strategic planning so that there is no lapse in our ability to care for patients,” they wrote.
The healthcare leaders said their organizations are on the front lines and see the suffering in their communities due to COVID-19.
“We see families who have lost both parents from COVID-19; we see children suffering from long-term effects due to a COVID-19 infection; and we see minority populations disproportionately suffering from the devastation of the COVID-19 pandemic. It is from this frontline human perspective that we urge you to share critical data and information as soon as possible. We stand ready to continue to work with your Administration to do all we can to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and provide care to those who have been infected,” they concluded.