Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) is holding a roundtable discussion with public health experts in Detroit, Michigan, on Monday amid the growing concerns surrounding the coronavirus, his campaign announced.
The discussion, which will center around the outbreak and “what we must do to address it,” will take place Monday afternoon, a day before the state’s Democrat primary election.
Per Sanders’ press release:
Sen. Sanders will be joined by medical professionals and national and state public health leaders, including National Nurses United (NNU) President Deborah Burger, RN; former Special Assistant, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Nuclear Chemical and Biological Defense Programs at the Department of Defense Greg Whitten; Director of the Yale Center for Infectious Disease Modeling and Analysis (CIDMA), and Burnett and Stender Families Professor of Epidemiology (Microbial Diseases) Dr. Alison Galvani; physician, epidemiologist, public health expert, and former health commissioner for the City of Detroit Dr. Abdul El-Sayed; and board-certified Family Medicine physician and health care advocate Dr. Victoria Dooley.
The discussion comes as the mysterious virus, originating in Wuhan, China, is spreading in the United States. Two U.S. lawmakers, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ), are under a self-quarantine due to contact with a Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) attendee who tested positive for the virus.
Sanders, for his part, has been a staunch critic of President Trump’s response to the coronavirus, calling his plan “disgusting.”
Trump's plan for the coronavirus so far:
-Cut winter heating assistance for the poor
-Have VP Pence, who wanted to "pray away" HIV epidemic, oversee the response
-Let ex-pharma lobbyist Alex Azar refuse to guarantee affordable vaccines to allDisgusting. pic.twitter.com/98HVjUVY8C
— Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) February 27, 2020
He also scolded Trump for holding a MAGA rally in South Carolina, telling his audience of supporters last month that the “dangerous president” should be “assembling doctors and scientists and researchers” instead.
“Trump is here today in Charleston, South Carolina. Now, all of you know there is a global healthcare crisis taking place right now with the coronavirus,” he said at the time.
“Countries all over the world are working frantically to figure out how they can control the virus, how we can get a vaccine to deal with the virus,” he continued.
“And here in America, obviously we’ve got to do the same. One might think that in the midst of a major healthcare crisis, the President of the United States would be assembling doctors and scientists and researchers — not Donald Trump,” Sanders added.
Trump signed an $8.3 billion emergency funding bill to fight the coronavirus last week.
“It’s an unforeseen problem … came out of nowhere, but we’re taking care of it,” the president said.
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