Viewpoints: Lessons On Protecting Workers During Reopening Times; Without A Vaccine, New Behaviors Are Necessary For Everyone
Opinion writers weigh in on these pandemic topics and others.
The Wall Street Journal:
How To Keep Workers Healthy On The Job
The threat from Covid-19 won’t end when the epidemic subsides. The recent upsurge in cases in Singapore and Japan shows how easily the virus can re-emerge. It will be a constant threat until an effective vaccine is on the market. So how does America function? What happens at work sites could be the difference between relative safety and constant disruption from new outbreaks. The virus will have fresh opportunities to spread as workers return to the job. But businesses can take steps to minimize risk and make the country safer. Employers need to start crafting plans for safe, healthy and productive work environments in an age of Covid risk. (Scott Gottlieb and Stephen Ostroff, 4/19)
The Detroit News:
How To Do Business, And Stay Safe
John Kennedy operates three manufacturing plants, including one in West Michigan, that have remained opened throughout the COVID-19 pandemic to produce essential medical devices. Of 500 employees, only one, in Plymouth, Mass., has come down with the virus, and has recovered. It's not by chance. The Detroit NewsKennedy's Autocam Medical has instituted rigorous precautions to protect worker safety, including social distancing within the plants, mandatory face masks and a zero entrance policy for workers who show any symptoms of illness. (Nolan Finley, 4/18)
The New York Times:
We Need A New Social Contract For The Coronavirus
Everyone wants to get the country back to work, school, and together again as soon as possible. On Friday, the Trump administration announced it wants to do that in phases and allow each governor to make the decision when and how to reopen. Even then, the virus will continue to lurk in people who are unaware they are carrying and spreading it to others who will become ill with Covid-19. We need to face this fact: Returning to our old reality will be a slow and frustrating process that will take many months and require deep wells of patience. We will not be fully free until we have a vaccine. So how will we navigate this perilous terrain? (David A. Kessler, 4/20)
Modern Healthcare:
COVID-19 And The Elderly
The coronavirus is at its deadliest when it infects senior citizens, particularly those with conditions that require home health services or land them in nursing homes and assisted-living facilities. Precise statistics on seniors’ vulnerability are hard to come by. But Washington state, which has up-to-date demographic data through its statewide reporting system, has documented the extent to which mortality from the pandemic is concentrated among the elderly. (Merrill Goozner, 4/18)
Boston Globe:
How To Reduce Coronavirus Deaths In Nursing Homes
Residents of nursing facilities in Massachusetts are in grave danger. As of April 15, 48 percent of reported COVID-19 deaths in the state were in long-term care facilities. From April 10 to April 15 alone, 283 deaths were attributed to COVID-19 in long-term care facilities. Over the same period, the number of reported cases by residents and health care workers in these facilities increased by more than 95 percent, and the number of facilities reporting at least one case of COVID-19 increased by more than 25 percent. (Simon Johnson, Kate Kellogg, and Retsef Levi, 4/17)
Dallas Morning News:
The Numbers Are In: COVID-19 Is Worse Than The Flu And Is Now A Leading Cause Of Death
We can now officially put to rest all comparisons of COVID-19 to influenza. The numbers are in. Coronavirus is killing more Americans than the flu and almost everything else. According to data compiled by The Washington Post, COVID-19 is now the second leading cause of death in America.In some parts of the country, it’s way ahead. In Louisiana and Washington, D.C., more people died of COVID-19 during the first week of April than any other cause. In New York, it’s not even close: 5,226 died in that state from the virus that week compared to 870 who died of heart disease. The upward march of these numbers is steady and disturbing. (4/19)
The Washington Post:
In-Person Church Services Right Now Are An Affront To Public Health — And Morality
The Constitution's First Amendment confers religious liberty; it is not a license to kill or even to put the faithful at exceptional risk of harm. The large majority of U.S. faith leaders concur and have acted accordingly, by canceling in-person worship during the pandemic. The handful who have defied state and local edicts prohibiting large gatherings imperil not only their followers but also everyone in their communities. That is an unacceptable affront to public health — and to morality. (4/19)
Los Angeles Times:
It's Time To Put A Coronavirus Quarantine On NIMBYism
It’s bad enough to be homeless and have no place to shelter when you are healthy. In south Orange County, if you’re homeless and have tested positive for COVID-19, your choices of places to go are a sidewalk or a hospital. Yet there are hotels sitting empty in the county that are willing to provide rooms to homeless people, if only the public would let them.Instead, two communities in south Orange County have marshaled their energy and legal resources to thwart efforts by the state, the county, hotel owners and an experienced service provider to help protect sick homeless individuals from getting sicker as well as to keep them from spreading the virus to the community at large. (Carla Hall, 4/17)
