The editorial, published on Wednesday, was signed all 34 editors (all of which except one are United States citizens) making this only the fourth time in its history where the opinions expressed on the page have been met with universal agreement. The assessment of these medical professionals is one of total and absolute condemnation expressed in a literal laundry list of complaints.
They pointed out that the political leadership of the U.S. has entirely failed the citizens they were elected to represent as the response and language of the leaders of other countries has clearly attested to. Noting that the Trump administration had responded so poorly to the coronavirus pandemic that they “have taken a crisis and turned it into a tragedy.”
They go on to unroll their laundry list by adding, there was too little testing for the virus, especially in the early stages of the pandemic. There was too little protective equipment, and a lack of national leadership on important measures like mask wearing, social distancing, quarantine and isolation. That the Trump administration had deliberately tried to both undermine and politicize not only the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, but both the Food and Drug Administration and the National Institutes of Health as well.
