Lack of cooperation from Trump hurting the nation

American presidents need to hit the ground running, especially when it comes to national security. We have too many enemies in the world to let our guard down for even a few hours.

National security is not a matter of partisanship. Joe Biden should be briefed on it so there will be no lag in readiness.

President Donald Trump continues to challenge results of the Nov. 3 election through court challenges. That is both his right and entirely understandable.

It does not appear that the president’s attorneys will be able to prevail to the extent needed to mount a successful challenge to the election. Unless something entirely unforeseen by anyone occurs, Joe Biden will become president on Jan. 20.

Trump has ordered federal agencies not to cooperate with Biden’s transition team. That will make things inconvenient for the Biden administration. It will slow action on some of his initiatives — and because Biden has vowed to reverse many of Trump’s executive orders, an attempt to slow him down is understandable.

One action by the White House could prove dangerous, however. It is refusal to provide intelligence briefi ngs to Biden.

Because of the complexity of national security and, again, the need for new presidents to be up to speed immediately, most presidents in the past have authorized such briefi ngs for those about to take over the country’s highest post.

Trump should do that, too. National security is not a matter of partisanship — in any way. Biden should be briefed on it so that, when he takes offi ce, there will be no lag in Oval Offi ce readiness.

— Altoona Mirror

Testing must be comprehensive

Over the next several weeks, about 3.8 million rapid COVID19 tests will be distributed to nursing homes and long- term care facilities in the state. It’s a good step in slowing the spread of the coronavirus among the highest at- risk population, but it has to be part of a more- comprehensive testing strategy.

The benefi t of the creditcardsized antigen tests, which are being provided at no cost by the federal government, is that they can provide results in about 15 minutes. State health offi cials say that will allow nursing homes to quickly identify positive cases and have those individuals quarantined to prevent the virus from spreading throughout the facility.

But there is a big down side to the rapid tests — the accuracy is questionable. The state health department in Nevada last month ordered nursing homes to stop using the rapid tests after it discovered the rate of false positives was 60%. The rapid tests cannot be the only testing standard because of this lack of accuracy.

For that reason, any facilities that may be relying or considering relying on the rapid tests as the sole determinant for positive cases should rethink that strategy. The facilities should utilize a broader testing program that combines frequent use of the rapid tests with the gold standard of testing, the highly accurate polymerase chain reaction ( PCR) tests.

Professional and college athletic teams have used such a combination of testing to identify those who test positive and then quickly move to isolate them. The rapid test, if positive, was typically followed up with a PCR test, the results of which can take a few days.

The Big Ten and Pac- 12 football conferences, for instance, originally planned to cancel their seasons. When rapid tests became available in large quantities — and at a low cost of about $ 5 — the conferences instituted a policy of daily rapid tests on players, coaches and staff , but they also conduct PCR tests on everyone once a week.

A robust testing system is desperately needed in the state’s nursing homes and long- term- care facilities whose residents have proved to be most vulnerable. The Pennsylvania Department of Health reported more than 26,000 positive cases in nursing homes and 5,810 deaths as of the end of October.

Rapid testing, combined with PRC tests, off ers protection for those in nursing care, but the testing must be part of an overall program that also includes contact tracing, wearing masks and social distancing.