WI physician praises Biden for avoiding Milwaukee convention

Grassroots North Shore in its current newsletter posted a local physician's open letter to Vice-President Joe Biden which cited the risks presented by COVID-19


and hailed Biden's decision to avoid the upcoming Democratic Nominating Convention in Milwaukee.

The text of the letter is below:

VP Biden, I’m glad you are not coming to The DNC in Milwaukee

I am an internal medicine physician, and since diagnosing my first cases of COVID-19 in March, it has become increasingly apparent to me that the DNC had to be a virtual event. 

Now, 5 months later, Milwaukee and Wisconsin are COVID “hot spots,” and crowds of any size, especially indoors, are unsafe. 

It is not essential for Joe Biden or his running mate to be physically present here to accept the nomination, and the potential exposure to SARS-2 coronavirus for the candidate, whose age puts him at high risk for potentially lethal complications, party officials, convention workers, and the press, is just not worth the risk. 

The very act of conducting a virtual nomination and campaign is a powerful example of the responsible leadership we need from our leaders to stop this unprecedented natural disaster. 

The COVID pandemic has been unnecessarily made far worse by willful violation by President Trump and his associates of basic public health imperatives like masking, distancing, and avoiding mass campaign events. 

While the absence of “in the flesh” campaigning — and the excitement of a national convention in our key swing state — is naturally disappointing, it is necessary. 

The contrast should be obvious to Wisconsin voters this November. 

Ian Gilson, MD 

Shorewood