To the Journal editor:

“We have it totally under control.” “We’ve pretty much shut it down … It’s going to be fine.” “The 15 cases within a couple of days is going to be down to close to zero.” “One day — it’s like a miracle — it will disappear.” “Just stay calm. It will go away.” As of this writing, more than a million Americans have contracted COVID-19, and more than 67,000 have died of it.

“We’ll essentially have a flu shot for this in a fairly quick manner.” Dr. Fauci says it’s most likely 12 to 18 months till we can do mass vaccinations. “Anybody who wants a test gets a test.” Not true, unless you’re a politician or in the NBA. As of April 24, we’d tested under 1.5 % of the population.

“There are some very strong, powerful signs” that hydroxychloroquine is effective against COVID-19. Um, no. The FDA recently issued a warning that hydroxychloroquine has not been shown effective or safe against COVID-19, citing dangerous potential side effects, including death.

“I see the disinfectant where it knocks it out in a minute, one minute. And is there a way we can do something like that by injection inside, or almost a cleaning…?” Makers of Clorox and Lysol have issued statements warning consumers not to take their products internally. (As they say, you can’t make this stuff up.)

Here is Trump’s one unequivocally clear, honest statement regarding the pandemic: “I don’t take responsibility at all.” That, sadly, is true.

TOM GUTOWSKI

Elmwood Township

Leelanau County