Two pandemic response teams were disbanded. Our pandemic expert in China, Dr. Linda Quick, who would've assisted China in stemming the pandemic at its onset, was recalled and dismissed. None of the easily foreseeable steps to fight the virus were taken: Personal protective equipment for the medical community weren't stockpiled; critical equipment and personnel weren't prepared.
President Trump keeps saying no one could've foreseen this pandemic. Yet, he was warned in November about the "SARS-like" outbreak in China. His failure to act put the entire world at risk. His gross incompetence coupled with the connivance of the GOP-controlled Senate, led him to ridicule any suggestion that the outbreak was serious.
He called it a hoax, even though it was killing people. Any competent administrator would refer a crisis like this to experts for advice and consent. But there are neither experts nor competent advisers in this administration. Unlike President Obama's well-informed action that stopped the Ebola epidemic, this president has led us into the worst possible scenario: worldwide pandemic.
The result of this gross negligence will be worldwide mass death. It was avoidable and foreseeable. History will record Trump's gross maladministration as criminally negligent genocide.
John Allen
Galveston