LETTER: We need a national strategy to fight the coronavirus

Something needs to be clarified. There is only one Centers for Disease Control and prevention, and it is at the national level. The CDC has a massive budget and scientists who work for the federal government who have planned and prepared for a possible epidemic for decades. There is no equivalent branch at the state level.

The states do not have budgets for a massive epidemic. They do not have the ability to start a massive testing or tracing program. They are not in the business of health care.

That is why we have needed the federal government to step up when we first found out about the virus in late January to aggressively ramp up a testing and tracing program, along with developing a vaccine and overseeing the distribution of PPE. Only the federal government can do those things.

We still need the federal government to help contain the virus. President Donald Trump gave up. He refused to use the power at his disposal. Even worse, he disassembled the vary agency we needed to step in.

It is not, nor has it ever been, the responsibility of the states to solve a national problem, any more than a hurricane or tornado. Can we stop blaming the state of Nevada for not solving a problem that our national government was prepared to battle? Let’s use the resources we had long before this pandemic hit us.