At my primary care clinic we still can’t test for coronavirus. That’s dangerous.

Accountability

In my primary care clinic, we are still unable to get our patients with respiratory symptoms tested for COVID-19. Despite assurances that “anyone can get the test,” testing has been painfully slow in the U.S. The tests have been rationed, saved only for people with travel to “affected areas.”

This approach is inadequate and dangerous. Washington state waited until patients started dying to test more broadly, then realized the virus had been spreading undetected for weeks.

We should have been testing broadly as early as possible to identify cases and isolate them before they spread it to others. We still don’t have the resources to do this, more than three months after the emergence of this pandemic. Our federal government has failed us..

Let’s work together to contain this, but once the crisis has passed we must demand accountability.

Dr. Alexander Raines, Hillsborough

Virus test kits

As a retired molecular biologist with decades of experience in academic settings as well as corporate biotechnology entities focused on development and commercialization of diagnostic tests, I read with great interest how the president has put together a task force of private companies to rapidly develop and produce virus test kits. One million CDC kits are forecast for shipment in the near future.

All this while countries in Europe and Asia have been conducting millions of tests for better than a month. For example, South Korea is performing 15,000 tests a day.

Why? Because the rest of the world recognized the impending epidemic in January. Commercial diagnostic test manufacturers worldwide started what the U.S. is just now initiating, so test kits are available elsewhere. For whatever reason, no one in a position to do so has known to, or chosen, to pick up the phone,

William Guy Burton, Raleigh

Virus mishandled

I am very concerned about how the Trump administration is mishandling the current COVID-19 pandemic.

Information about the spread of this highly contagious pathogen is treated like a state secret. Trump is more worried about the stock market than public health. The market will recover. Unless we change our strategy, many patients will not.

It is a national disgrace that we are unable to test every person who is symptomatic and provide paid leave so they can remain at home in isolation.

Lynn Andrews, Durham

Health workers

Health care workers, the weeks ahead will demand much of you, but your training, experience, and the altruism that led you to this line of work has prepared you for this moment. The lives you save - and you will save many - will reverberate through the generations. To put oneself at risk for the sake of others is the greatest human action.

Randall Martoccia, Winteville

NC legislature

I applaud Gov. Roy Cooper’s actions to mobilize the executive branch and prepare for impending costs by declaring a state of emergency. However, I see nothing on the legislative calendar, nor read anything about our General Assembly convening to address the pandemic. The primary is over, the next election is not until November; it is time to set aside partisan politics and work together to protect our state.

The N.C. General Assembly should not wait until the end of April to convene. It should meet immediately. The first order of business must be to extend Medicaid to protect the uninsured, facilitate payments to struggling providers and keep approximately $1 billion of N.C. tax dollars within the state through federal Medicaid grants.

Scott Johnson, Chapel Hill

NC redistricting

On March 6 Virginia’s legislature approved a historic reform clearing the way for voters to approve the South’s first nonpartisan redistricting commission. Virginia’s reform isn’t perfect, but it’s a big step forward. Now it’s North Carolina’s turn to fix our redistricting system. We need legislation before the 2021 redrawing starts. More court cases won’t solve the problem. Our legislators should follow Virginia’s lead when they return in April. Take up the redistricting reform bills now languishing in committee and adopt a fair maps reform that works for our state.

Jennifer Bremer, Chapel Hill

Commuter rail

Regarding “Durham County commuter rail nears final call” (March 11):

So predominantly African-American residents of Durham are now expected to welcome the roar and rumble of empty trains rattling through their neighborhoods in service of mostly white high-earning commuters from Johnston and Wake counties. Who’s pushing this insanity?

The Durham County commissioners need to give the $2 million back to those who pay sales tax disproportionately to their income. Give the money to those who are going to need noise and vibration mitigation.

If Research Triangle Park has a commuter problem, then let RTP solve it.

Randall Rickman, Raleigh

This story was originally published March 13, 2020 at 2:19 PM.