The True Cause of COVID Spikes: Lack of Leadership

Across the US, COVID-19 rates are increasing, and hospitals and localities that were initially spared are now the new virus hot spots.  Arizona, the Carolinas, Texas and more than 20 other states that escaped the initial impact of the pandemic are now struggling to address the crisis.  In direct contrast to this public health threat, federal officials at the very highest levels are claiming that the virus is gone or disappearing.  Some are even saying, “If we stop testing right now, we’d have very few cases” of the coronavirus.

These false statements are both insulting to the intelligence of Americans like you, but also very dangerous since we need more facts and testing, not less, in order to stop the pandemic and get the economy moving again.  An increase in testing will result in an increase in documented cases, but sick people would still be sick whether they are tested for COVID or not. An increase in testing gives us more information about the situation, but it does not change the situation.

Furthermore, increased testing is not responsible for an increase in hospitalizations, which is what we are seeing across the board in places recently beleaguered by an upward trend. Lack of testing and denial of facts will lead to more hospitalizations and, yes, more people dying from COVID-19.

All the experts and all reliable public officials say that testing and precautions, such as masks and social distancing, remain the only way to get America back on its feet. The situation in many states is getting worse.  News and media outlets are calling recent spikes “the second wave,” but in truth, we are still in the middle of the first wave of the pandemic.

A question for you and all other Americans:  How do we fix something that so many leaders falsely say is no longer a problem?  And how do we rebuild the economy when a virus is ravaging our workforce and citizens without protection or interference? We must first acknowledge what is happening, is all its horror and magnitude, before we can begin to fix it.