Hi there. It's Scott Walker (no, not that Scott Walker). I'm a doctor in
rural Wisconsin.

At the clinic where I work, we are fully unable to test patients for the
coronavirus. We are on the waiting list for a test machine but there are
still massive shortages, and outbreak hotspots are the priority. There is
no estimate of when or if we will get a machine.

Across the country, governors are starting to relax the stay-at-home
orders and send people back to work. Without enough testing, this could be
catastrophic. Since President Trump won’t do it on his own, Congress needs
to step in and insist that the government make -- or contract to make --
the critical testing and other supplies that are severely needed across
the country.

The next round of coronavirus relief is being debated right now in
Congress, and Elizabeth Warren just announced a new bill today that would
require the government to publicly manufacture the tests, PPE, and drugs
that are in shortage.

[ [link removed] ]Will you join me in supporting Elizabeth Warren's ground-breaking new
“COVID-19 Emergency Manufacturing Act of 2020” and call on all members of
Congress to support public manufacture of live-saving supplies in the
midst of the pandemic? Click here to add your name to the petition.

If the government had ramped up its response earlier, there might be
enough test equipment to go around, and cities like mine could get test
machines and supplies before we become a hotspot, too.

But instead, Trump ignored repeated, urgent warnings in his intelligence
briefings about the coronavirus in January and February. Instead of making
emergency preparations, he downplayed the threat, used it to make
political attacks, squandered valuable time, and allowed the virus to
spread throughout the country unchecked.

Then, he went on to rely on the private sector to produce what we need.
That has not worked. It is not a sufficient response to simply "let the
markets decide" when lives depend on ramping up the production of key
medical supplies immediately -- whether doing so is profitable or not.

My patients cannot afford to wait another day for these tests.

Our government has the ability to massively scale up the production of
testing equipment and other vital supplies. We already do this by
contracting to make drugs essential for our national security that the
private market won’t provide on its own. We need this to happen to meet
our needs now and in the future when the virus returns -- and we need it
to happen so that as people start to go back to work, we can keep everyone
as safe as possible.

[ [link removed] ]Add your name: All members of Congress should support public
manufacture of live-saving supplies in the midst of the pandemic.

Together,

-- Scott Walker, MD


Paid for by the Progressive Change Campaign Committee PAC (www.BoldProgressives.org) and not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee. Contributions to the PCCC are not deductible as charitable contributions for federal income tax purposes.

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