Dear Editor:
This is in response to the letter to the editor titled “Has coronavirus become Trump’s Chornobyl?” by Andrij Skyba (June 7).
To equate Chornobyl with the coronavirus is like comparing apples and oranges. President Donald Trump did not cover up a disaster. He banned travel from China to the U.S.A. on January 31 amid protests from many political leaders. His travel ban saved many thousands of lives here in the U.S.A.
There was an impeachment going on at the time and the U.S. Congress completely ignored the approaching pandemic.
Also, remember that the World Health Organization downplayed the dangers for over two months in December and January. Dr. Anthony Fauci said in March that it was OK for healthy young people to go on cruises, and in February the New York City Health Commissioner said it was OK to go to Chinatown to celebrate the New Year festivities there.
The writer misquotes President Trump. He did not say coronavirus was a “hoax” that would disappear like a “miracle.”
He abided by the “science” and held regular public briefings with CDC and NIH officials. He got ventilators manufactured and shipped to hospitals, sent resources to New York and California in the form of hospital ships, and assisted in the construction of emergency hospitals in New York City and elsewhere.
To say that President Trump’s response was feckless and contributed to the loss of American lives is not only irresponsible but untrue and not based upon the facts.
Michael A. Cholewka
Brooklyn