At the same time that the Trump administration announced that it is ending federal support for coronavirus testing sites, the Maine CDC was forced to go “back to the drawing board” on coronavirus testing strategy after receiving only a fraction of the rapid test kits they had expected from the federal government.
Maine’s health care providers are experiencing shortages of personal protective equipment and COVID-19 testing that make their efforts to combat the coronavirus outbreak more difficult and dangerous. These shortages could have been mitigated by early federal action to ramp up production and secure additional equipment but instead Trump wasted months downplaying the threat of coronavirus and ignoring warnings from experts and his own top advisors.
Rather than taking action to hold Trump accountable, Senator Susan Collins defended his early response to the crisis in an interview last week, saying he “did a lot that was right in the beginning.” In the face of overwhelming evidence that Trump’s failure to act is going to “going to get Americans killed,” Collins has chosen to prioritize defending Trump over fighting for Maine.
“Now is the time for the Trump Administration to step up their support of states in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic, not pull back,” said Maine Democratic Party Chair Kathleen Marra. “Our communities are contending with dangerous shortages of medical supplies and testing equipment but Trump has failed to provide the aid we need and has left our health care providers high and dry. Senator Collins’ choice to defend this administration’s failures is unacceptable. Maine deserves better.”
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