Protect Americans From Future Pandemics!

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As the death toll from coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continues to spike, it's become tragically clear this pandemic caught our country off guard. Mandatory shelter-in-place policies have since been enacted to combat the spread of the coronavirus, separating many Americans from their loved ones, and a means of supporting their families for what could be 6 months or more.

When travel restrictions and "non-essential" businesses may finally resume, U.S. citizens could be in the midst of the worst economic downturn since the 1930s. And much of this disruption could have been prevented were the White House Office of Pandemic Response not dismantled 1 right before it was needed most.

This federally-centralized pandemic response team could have better prepared the U.S. to weather the current pandemic. The responsibility of the health security of Americans is now split up between many different state and federal agencies, making coordination almost impossible. Healthcare systems are struggling to provision enough safety equipment for their practitioners and patients. And confusion at every level of government over sourcing and distributing COVID-19 test equipment has made it harder to track the spread of the disease. 2

Pandemic preparedness and the security of Americans requires government-wide action, and a centralized administration in close proximity to the President of the United States 3.

When the Ebola virus ravaged West Africa in 2014, President Barack Obama brought multiple U.S. government departments and agencies together to prepare the country's healthcare infrastructure for potential outbreak. Former vice presidential staffer Ronald Klain helped unify these departments from the White House, defined clear objectives and budgets, and tapped the help of foreign leaders in the countries where Ebola was spreading.4

Thanks to this effort, millions of Americans were spared from a horrific disease, and because the Trump administration refused to fill those positions when they were vacated in 2018 5, millions are once more at risk, or dying of COVID-19.

**It may be too late to prevent the coronavirus from claiming lives and disrupting the national economy, but it is not too late to protect future generations from facing the same danger. sign this petition and urge the National Security Council to reinstate the the Office of Pandemic Response now!**