DEAR EDITOR:

Four months ago, when COVID-19 started to invade the U.S., President Trump called himself a “war president,” and rightly so. Actually, he became president of World War III!

The difference is that in this war, the enemy is invisible. It does not use tanks, jets, bullets, missiles or bombs to kill and destroy. It effectively uses lethal “gas” that kills the lungs — not much different from what Hitler used over London during World War II.

A 22-year-old woman dying from COVID-19 in an ICU was lucky enough to get a lung transplant! Her lungs, instead of being light and pink, were solid and black, resembling a liver. No respirator could ever force air into such an organ. This enemy does not destroy buildings, roads or bridges. Rather, it renders factories idle, raises unemployment and cripples the economy.

To put things in perspective, during four years of World War I, we lost 116,516 lives. During four years of World War II, we lost 419,400 lives. During this World War III, we have lost more than 137,000 lives in just five months.

President Woodrow Wilson during World War I and President Franklin D. Roosevelt during World War II met with their generals and decided plans of action to defeat the enemies.

Donald Trump met with his “generals”– experts in health and science. As commander in chief, he has authority to analyze, plan and execute how to defeat this invisible enemy. However, he did not have luxuries of selecting only young, healthy or strong battlefield soldiers. Rather every one of us became a soldier by default, in this huge battlefield, our beloved United States of America.

We expected to have mandatory national directives from our commander in chief on how collectively, we can defeat this enemy — wearing masks, distancing could not be optional. There is nothing in the constitution that said I had the right to engage in activity that threatens my health or the health of fellow citizens.

Because we are free to travel from state to state, we cannot afford the status quo. It has been a roller coaster, and it will continue to be so, with more loss in lives and crippled economy. This is not a local or state problem. It is a national problem requiring a national solution.

So, as our commander in chief, President Trump must make this his finest hour and issue an executive order to make masks, distancing and crowd size limitations mandatory. It is his duty to protect us, even from ourselves.

God bless America.

RASHID ABDU, M.D.

Canfield