Dear Donald J. Trump for President campaign:

As physicians, we are extremely concerned about President Trump’s decision to hold a campaign rally at Erie International Airport in Erie on Tuesday, Oct. 20, at 6 pm. We are concerned about the rally itself, which packs people close together with no social distancing or widespread mask wearing, as well as the public statements and misinformation President Trump continues to share. We believe the rallies, and President Trump’s rhetoric, increase risks to people’s health and safety.

His visit also comes as Pennsylvania sees recent consecutive days of more than 1,000 positive COVID-19 cases, with public health experts warning that Pennsylvania is on the verge of a fall resurgence.

For these reasons, we call on your campaign to cancel the Oct. 20 rally in Pennsylvania.

We additionally ask that President Trump and his associates stop spreading medically inaccurate information through their many communications platforms. Just a few recent examples include:

• At a rally in Wisconsin, President Trump claimed that the nation was “rounding the corner” in the COVID-19 pandemic effort -- one day after Wisconsin reported 4,000 new COVID-19 cases, with record numbers of cases in preceding days. That day, the death toll reached 215,000, with 8.1 million Americans sickened.

• On at least three occasions in recent days, President Trump falsely said wearing masks increases the risk of COVID-19, when the scientific evidence clearly shows that masks can reduce person-to-person transmissions and mitigate community infection rates.

• After leaving Walter Reed Medical Center on Oct. 5, President Trump claimed he was “immune” following treatment for COVID-19. He later tweeted “I can’t get it (immune), and can’t give it” -- a statement Twitter had to take down because the president spread what Twitter called “misleading and potentially harmful information related to COVID-19.”

• President Trump called experimental antiviral drugs he received “cures” in a Twitter video, and falsely said that the therapy had been authorized, with hundreds of thousands of doses ready for use.

For these reasons, in the interest of public health and safety, we ask President Trump to cancel his rally in Pennsylvania on Tuesday, Oct. 20. If the President does not cancel his potential superspreader event, we urge people to avoid attending the rally. The president’s visit comes as the Pennsylvania Department of Health reported 1,485 new positive coronavirus cases on Saturday, bringing the statewide total to 180,943.

This marks the 12th consecutive day the number of new cases has hit over 1,000.

The best precaution people can take is to continue to take the virus seriously and to practice preventative measures that can reduce the likelihood of transmission. But President Trump’s rallies increase the risk of COVID-19 person-to-person infections, and they give a false impression that COVID-19 is no longer with us.

When nearly 1,000 Americans continue to die every day from COVID-19, the data shows this pandemic is still with us. COVID-19 has not gone away no matter how much President Trump wants people to believe.

We can keep each other safer and truly turn the corner by wearing a mask, washing your hands and avoiding large crowds. That means choosing to stay home and stay safer. No presidential candidate should be holding large, in-person events that ignore proper social distancing guidelines, especially if the candidate encourages behavior that threatens the health of our patients.

Signed:

Max Cooper, MD and CTP's PA State Lead, Emergency Medicine (Nether Providence Township)

Benjamin Abella, MD; Emergency Medicine (Philadelphia)

Bahar Adeli, MD; Internal Medicine (Philadelphia)

Peter Adler, MD; Emergency Medicine (Sewickley)

David Aizenberg, MD; Internal Medicine (Wynnewood)

Judy Albert, MD; Obstetrics & Gynecology (Pittsburgh)

Catherine Auriemma, MD; Critical Care (Philadelphia)

Laura Barry, MD; Pathology (Philadelphia)

Frances Batzer, MD; Obstetrics & Gynecology (Philadelphia)

Philip Bayliss, MD; Maternal Fetal Medicine (York)

Jeffrey Bedrick, MD; Psychiatry (Newtown Square)

Katherine Behan, MD; Internal Medicine (Philadelphia)

Chuck Benedict, MD; Neurology (Coatesville)

Neal Berkowitz, MD; Family Practice (Allentown)

Paula Bononi, MD; Internal Medicine (Glenside)

Thomas Brockmeyer, MD; Orthopedic Surgery (Pittsburgh)

Kaitlyn Broderick, MD; Internal Medicine (Philadelphia)

Monica Burton, MD; Pediatrics (Philadelphia)

Brittany Corso, MD; Internal Medicine (Philadelphia)

Ronald Costanzo, MD; Radiology (New Hope)

Daniel Covington, MD; Colon/Rectal Surgery (East Stroudsburg)

Steven Davidson, MD; Emergency Medicine (Philadelphia)

Alan Edwards, MD; Family Medicine (Industry)

Mo Eslami, MD, MPH; Vascular Surgery (Pittsburgh)

Marcus Eubanks, MD; Emergency Medicine (Pittsburgh)

Barry Farks, MD, MPH, FAAFP; Family Practice and Geriatrics (Pittsburgh)

Cindy Finkelman, DO; General Practice (Sellersville)

Anthony Fiorello, MD; Internal Medicine (Pittsburgh)

Ralph Fishkin, DO; Psychiatry (Bala Cynwyd)

Martin Freifeld, MD; Obstetrics & Gynecology (Dallas)

Robert Furia, MD; Internal Medicine (Newtown Square)

Nasrollah Ghahramani, MD; Nephrology (Hummelstown)

Christian Gilbert, MD; Addiction Medicine (West Grove)

Kenneth Gorelick, MD; Internal Medicine (Newtown Square)

Richard Greenberg, MD; Urology (Elkins Park)

Howard Grill, MD; Cardiology (Pittsburgh)

Iva Hacker-Delany, MD; Emergency Medicine (Wynnewood)

Kathleen Hayward, MD; Emergency Medicine (Downingtown)

Elizabeth Hepler-Smith, MD; Psychiatry (Gibsonia)

Susan Hilton, MD; Radiology (Newtown Square)

William Houston, MD; Pediatrics (Ardmore)

Christopher Hughes, MD; Internal Medicine (McMurray)

Richard Huskey, MD; Geriatric Medicine (Trevorton)

Charles C. Huston, III, MD; General Surgery (Knox)

Elizabeth Iannone, MD; Emergency Medicine (Wexford)

Jeffrey Jaeger, MD; Internal Medicine (Philadelphia)

Matt Jenkins, MD; Plastic Surgery (Philadelphia)

Warren Katz, MD; Rheumatology (Lansdale)

Katrina Kissman, MD; Emergency Medicine (Philadelphia)

Megan Kolter, DO; Family Medicine (Chester Springs)

John Kokales, MD; Internal Medicine (Pittsburgh)

Joseph Lapenna, MD; Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation (Philadelphia)

Cinda Liggon, MD; Psychiatry (Fayetteville)

Vicki Mack, MD; Pediatrics (Mechanicsburg)

Jonathan Morgan, MD; Radiology (Newtown Square)

Mary Morrison, MD; Psychiatry (Wynnewood)

Elizabeth Moy, MD; Emergency Medicine (Pittsburgh)

Jude Mugerwa, MD; Cardiology (Johnstown)

Bryan Negrini, MD, MPH, MRO; Internal and Addiction Medicine (Gibsonia)

Karen Newman, MD; Psychiatry (King of Prussia)

David Oxman, MD; Critical Care (Philadelphia)

Elizabeth Paczolt, MD; Nuclear Medicine (Churchville)

Helen Partridge, MD; Psychiatry (Philadelphia)

Nadja Peter, MD; Internal Medicine (Philadelphia)

Roxanna Pourmirzaie, MD; Internal Medicine (Philadelphia)

Rhea Powell, MD; Internal Medicine (Philadelphia)

Donna Puleio, MD; Oncology (Franklin)

Dilip Ramchandani, MD; Psychiatry (Narberth)

Asanthi Ratnasekera, DO; Trauma Surgery (Broomall)

Meaghan Reid, DO; Emergency Medicine (Media)

James Reilly, MD; Nephrology (Pittsburgh)

Oscar Reyna, MD; Family Practice (Latrobe)

Michael Risbano, MD; Pulmonary, Allergy, and Critical Care Medicine (Pittsburgh)

Geoffrey Ruben, MD; Emergency Medicine (Washington)

Christina Sabeh, MD; Internal Medicine (Pittsburgh)

Brandon Schooley, MD; Radiology (Indiana Township)

Robert Schwartz, MD; Pediatrics (Coraopolis)

David Share, MD; Nephrology (Philadelphia)

Khvaramze Shaverdashvili, MD; Hospitalist (Philadelphia)

Frank Silvestry, MD; Cardiology (Gladwyne)

Stefan Skalina, MD; Diagnostic Radiology (Springfield)

Marjorie Somers, MD; Psychiatry (Gladwyne)

Shelly Stelzer, MD; Anesthesiology (Landenberg)

Maxwell Stepanuk, DO; Orthopedic Surgery (Wyndmoor)

Hilary Stroud, MD; Family Medicine (Gibsonia)

Sara Tabby, MD; Psychiatry (Merion Station)

Audrey Tashjian, MD; Obstetrics & Gynecology (Churchville)

Andrew Urbach, MD; Pediatrics (Pittsburgh)

Donald Vigliotti, MD; Pediatrics (Sarver)

Jen Wildpret, DO; Child Psychiatry (Butler)

Susan Wiley, MD; Psychiatry (Harleysville)

Barbara Wilhelm, MD; Family Practice (Uniontown)

Jon Yardney, MD; Internal Medicine (Wayne)

Jessica Zuo, MD; Internal Medicine (Philadelphia)