Letter to Vice President Mike Pence - Higgins, Abraham Request COVID-19 Testing for Oil and Gas Workers

Letter

Vice President Pence,

Sir, we write to share the concerns of offshore oil and gas workers from Louisiana regarding
COVID-19 testing. As you know, oil and gas workers in the Gulf of Mexico and other locations work in
close proximity in highly dangerous environments. Despite significant efforts to social distance, limit
unnecessary contact, and follow other recommendations of the US Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC), these essential workers live together for weeks at a time and are highly vulnerable to
infectious diseases like COVID-19.

Support service companies like PharmaSafe and RemoteMD are contracted to provide
healthcare screenings and services to these workers and are responsible for ensuring the health and safety
of entire crews. Their development of HIPAA compliant screening databases to monitor spread and
identify hotspots has greatly assisted in the diagnoses and prevention of COVID-19, but additional
measures are necessary to keep Gulf rigs fully operational. Specifically, the oil and gas sector is
requesting access to state of the art COVID-19 testing units, such as the ones being produce by Abbott
Laboratories and Mesa Biotech, to ensure the health and safety of our nation's offshore workers.

At a time when Russia, Saudi Arabia, and OPEC are deliberately tanking the oil economy, our
energy sector cannot withstand the impact of a highly communicable and dangerous virus such as this.
The disruption of this industry is a direct threat to the energy independence and national security of the
United States of America. Therefore, we respectfully request your support in making available valuable
COVID-19 testing units for all vulnerable oil and gas workers.

We greatly appreciate your consideration of this serious matter. The health and well-being of
these hard-working Americans is essential to our nation's independence and security.

Respectfully,

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