Letter to the editor: Where is the leadership on covid?

Throughout this country’s history, leaders have stepped up to lead the nation during critical times. Since early last year, we have been faced with a covid-19 pandemic which in one year has taken more lives than the United States lost in World War II. Yet where is the leadership?

The former president never appeared to fully grasp the gravity of the situation and further appeared to ignore it altogether during the last six months of his term. Operation Warp Speed was a huge step in the right direction but lacked needed guidelines for the states, which were delegated the responsibility for getting the vaccine into people’s arms.

The commonwealth’s governor appears to have stepped aside in recent months, while the former health secretary appeared to be doing little while other states were taking steps to enable the beginning of vaccinations promptly after vaccine availability. The failure to develop a workable plan is inexcusable in a state where most of the counties do not have a health department and are heavily dependent upon the state for assistance.

Moreover, the state’s covid-19 website is more a source of frustration than help. Although they are not directly involved in the vaccine rollout, the county commissioners appear to be sitting on the sidelines when they should be pressing the appropriate state agencies for the assistance needed to serve their constituents.

This is a woeful situation from top to bottom. Our hope is that the current president will exhibit the needed leadership, but that can only happen with action, not words.

John Hose

Hempfield