Sethi outlines plan to tackle spread of coronavirus

Republican U.S. Senate candidate Manny Sethi speaks at a campaign event in Clarksville on Feb. 4, 2020. (Erik Schelzig, Tennessee Journal)

Republican U.S. Senate Manny Sethi, a surgeon at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, is outlining his plan to tackle the spread of the coronavirus.

“We must stop listening to the Wall Street elites, who are more worried about not spooking the markets and their pocketbooks, than they are about protecting Americans,” Sethi said in a release. “And we must start listening to the doctors and researchers who have been sounding the alarm on this.”

Here’s the full release from the Sethi campaign:

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — On Monday, President Trump announced an emergency funding request to address the coronavirus epidemic (COVID-19). 

Dr. Manny Sethi, candidate for U.S. Senate, applauded President Trump, called on Congress to act quickly, and released his own plan for how to handle the international epidemic.

Dr. Manny released the following statement and eight-point plan: 

We have a massive international crisis brewing, and need something as bold and ambitious as a Manhattan Project-style effort to combat it.

I appreciate President Trump’s stand to defend Americans from this contagion. Congress must act quickly and give him what he has asked for, without politicizing the issue by adding extraneous requests to the emergency funding bill that have nothing to do with the coronavirus.

We must stop listening to the Wall Street elites, who are more worried about not spooking the markets and their pocketbooks, than they are about protecting Americans. And we must start listening to the doctors and researchers who have been sounding the alarm on this.

Let’s direct every resource available at developing an accurate, reliable screening test capable of identifying virus victims quickly, and stopping them from unknowingly spreading the virus.

Time is not on our side – we need thousands of researchers working on this around-the-clock, which means Congress must give the President the funding he needs to fight this crisis.

It is my sincere hope and prayer that this crisis ends being less terrifying than it looks right now. But hope isn’t a strategy – we need our leaders to take every step we can to protect Americans and be prepared.

Dr. Manny’s plan to address coronavirus:

1. No forced resettlement. Protect states from forced resettlement of coronavirus patients by the federal government. Any quarantine of coronavirus patients in any state must be approved by local and state officials, and the federal government must coordinate with the community surrounding a quarantine site. 
2. Emergency funding to get thousands of researchers working on testing of an accurate PCR-based screening test for rapid diagnosis. The current diagnostic test has been validated at only a handful of public health laboratories and its accuracy is problematic at best. An accurate diagnostic test, available to state and local public health labs, is imperative, as well as coordination between all hospitals and the closest public health lab.
3. Ensure coordination between the Center for Disease Control and state and local health facilities to assure a clear and transparent reporting system which can provide a timely basis for quarantine decisions.
4. Emergency funding to bolster and hasten the development and testing of an effective and safe vaccine.
5. Increase surveillance and border security to ensure persons who are either i) potentially exposed and at risk of infection or ii) potentially already infected are appropriately evaluated and triaged.
6. National preparation within hospitals to create sufficient capacity in case the needs arises for hospital admission. Current estimates are that approximately 80% of COVID-19 patients have mild disease; of the approximately 20% with more severe pneumonia requiring hospitalization, approximately 5% require intensive care.
7. International collaboration among clinicians knowledgeable on COVID-19 to determine the most effective treatments, including controlled clinical trials of anti-virals.
8. Development of an accurate antibody test to assist in the assessment of vaccine immunogenicity as well as to provide essential seroepidemiologic data including the role of asymptomatic cases in transmission of the virus.