Top US doctors are urging Trump to cooperate with Biden and share COVID-19 data 'to save countless lives'
Carlos Barria/Reuters
- A trio of top US healthcare organizations have written an open letter to President Donald Trump urging him to share critical coronavirus data with President-elect Joe Biden.
- The president has so far refused to authorize or comply with any presidential transition, locking Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris out of access to top-level information.
- The American Medical Association, the American Nurses Association, and the American Hospitals Association said in their letter that coordination "could save countless lives."
- The President-elect's team has criticized Trump for his failure to share information, with Biden saying that "more people may die" as a result.
- The White House did not immediately respond to Insider's query about the letter.
- Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.
Top US doctors and nurses have written an open letter to President Donald Trump urging him to share coronavirus information and data with President-elect Joe Biden.
The heads of three healthcare organizations — the American Medical Association (AMA), the American Nurses Association (ANA) and the American Hospitals Association (AHA) — signed the letter on Tuesday telling the president that a coordinated strategy is critical to saving lives.
"Real-time data and information on the supply of therapeutics, testing supplies, personal protective equipment, ventilators, hospital bed capacity and workforce availability to plan for further deployment of the nation's assets needs to be shared to save countless lives," they wrote.
The joint letter from medical leaders appealed to the president to protect American lives by authorizing this part of the transition.
"As providers of care for all Americans, we see the suffering that is occurring in our communities due to COVID-19," they wrote, describing the heartbreaking impact of the virus on families, children and — disproportionately — people of color.
"It is from this front line human perspective that we urge you to share critical data and information as soon as possible," they added.
The letter came 12 days after Insider and Decision Desk HQ called the election for Biden, and 11 days after major networks did the same. Trump has so far refused to concede or authorize any transition processes.
On matters including the coronavirus and national security, Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris have moved ahead with a hamstrung transition process in which they have not had access to top-level data.
Drew Angerer/Getty Images
Biden was initially sanguine about the situation, saying Trump's position was "not of much consequence."
He and Harris have been relying on data from initiatives like the volunteer-led Covid Tracking Project instead, Common Dreams reported him as telling press.
But as the days have passed, there has been a growing chorus of senior voices sounding the alarm.
That includes Biden. "More people may die," if Trump continues to refuse him coronavirus data, he said on Monday.
Al Drago - Pool/Getty Images
Dr Anthony Fauci, a member of Trump's coronavirus task force, emphasized why a smooth handover of medical data is needed.
"It's like passing the baton in a race," he told CNN. "You don't want to stop and then give it to somebody. You want to just essentially keep going."
The White House did not immediately respond to Insider's query about the letter from the AHA, ANA and AMA.
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