A SALUTE TO COVID FIGHTERS: SHOULDN’T WE DO MORE?

 

“I look at it; I view it as, in a sense, a wartime president. I mean, that's what we're fighting”.

Donald J. Trump, March 18^th, 2020

 

“This is a wartime undertaking”.

President Joe Biden, January 21^st, 2021

There have been few areas of agreement between Biden and Trump. But they both agree, fighting the Coronavirus is like war.

In every war there are combatants. Some are more essential and more vulnerable than others. This war is no different. Like other wars the risks have not been borne equally.  Those who earn their living primarily by moving

words and numbers around on paper can work from home. Office computers were moved home and Zoom became the thing for holding meetings, conferences, and even prosecuting legal proceedings.

 

We think that no combatants have been more essential or more vulnerable than

our essential health care workers. They have gone into battle daily since the outbreak of the Coronavirus to take care of our infected loved ones and

comfort them while they suffered and often died, because we could not be at their bedsides. They often worked for minimum wages.

According to a joint undertaking by Kaiser Health News (KHN) a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues, and “The Guardian”, in a report published December 23, 2020, more than 2,900 U.S. health care workers died during the COVID-19 pandemic between March 2020 and December of 2020.  People of color have

been disproportionately affected, accounting for about 65% of deaths. The deaths continue.  

Some of these workers worked in plants, in crowded conditions that didn’t permit social distancing. The food industry offered one prime example. Workers in meat processing plants, especially, suffered high rates of infection and death from the disease.

Bearing a Heavier Burden

Many home health providers care for multiple patients, who also bear the consequences of

their work conditions. “If you think about perfect vectors for transmission, unprotected individuals going from house to house have to rank at the top of the list,” said Nina Kohn, a professor specializing in civil rights law at Syracuse University, quoted in the KHN report.

Nonetheless, caregivers like Samira, in Richmond, Virginia, identified in the KHN report, have little choice but to work. Samira — who makes $8.25 an hour with one client and $9.44 an hour with another, and owes tens of thousands of dollars in hospital bills from previous work injuries — has no other option but to risk getting sick.

“I can’t afford not to work. And my clients, they don’t have anybody but me,” she said. “So I just pray every day I don’t get it.”

From Despair to Hope

When we came to understand the deadly nature of the Coronavirus, the nation

faced a calamity like few it had experienced in its 250-year history.  The country shut down and the health care workers on the front line faced the grim task of continuing to treat thousands of people for a disease, medical experts knew little about. We had no drugs proven effective against the virus. Since it was airborne, people

caught it easily from other people. In many cases, the consequences were deadly. Those health care workers found themselves hooking people up to ventilators, knowing their patients would often die anyway. They did so because it was their job.

Worse than the lack of effective treatments was the fact there was no vaccine that could keep people from getting the disease. The only tools for prevention were masks, hand washing,  and “social distancing.”

Vaccine and Hope

Federal agencies began approving vaccines

for use in the United States in late November/early December of 2020. Unfortunately, the federal government didn’t have a distribution plan and left most of the work to the states. Predictably, inoculations lagged in the early months of vaccine availability.  That changed with the beginning of the Biden administration.  The new president made vaccination a high national priority. He set a goal of 100 million shots administered by the end of his first 100 days in office. His team met that goal by day 58. The goal now is sufficient vaccine supply by May for every American who wants it. We can all now see hope.

The national experience with Covid-19 has

shown some encouraging traits in the American character. Yes, we have endured senseless selfishness born of partisan bickering, but when faced with adversity, Americans have risen to the challenge.

Who can forget those inspiring scenes in March, April, and May of 2020 of people

standing on their balconies saluting front line health care workers during shift changes? Such expressions of support now occupy a special place in American lore, joining the spontaneous expressions of patriotism that sprang up after the September 11, 2001, attacks.

Now, with hope and optimism that maybe, just maybe normal appears in sight, we take a few moments and review where we’ve been and where we’re going, from the perspective of the people who’ve borne the brunt of fighting the  war on the pandemic

Coronavirus.  The vaccines now available provide real hope, especially for the people who’ve led the fight against the devastation this virus has wrought.

Many front-line workers are now dead, leaving behind husbands, wives, children,

grandchildren, siblings and loved ones from whom they were taken tragically and some often too soon, or have survived but suffer long term medical consequences.

Is simply expressing our heartfelt gratitude enough? Rep. Norma Torres (D-Calif.) referenced the KHN data citing the need for a pending bill that would provide compensation to the families of health care workers who died or sustained harm from COVID-19.

We believe these combatants deserve the same treatment veterans who bore the brunt of the burdens of wars received - special benefits for their sacrifice.

          

THE PANDEMIC ISN’T OVER: KEEPING OUR EYES ON THE PRIZE

Despite much progress, a threat has appeared that could derail solving the pandemic problem. That threat compels us to join those sounding an alarm.

To some extent, the coronavirus pandemic has always been about numbers. We know many of the painful ones – 29.2 million infections

and 530,000 deaths by the first week in March; about 22 million jobs lost or diminished; 328.2 million (in other words, everybody) lives disrupted. And now, another set of numbers offers hope for an end to the madness – decreased cases, over 59 million people who’ve had at least one shot of vaccine, maybe 255 million people (every adult in the country) vaccinated by summer.

The problem lies in the fact states have started opening their economies by lifting restrictions on capacity in public venues, making social  distancing harder, and eliminating mask requirements. It’s a trickle

now, but it could soon become a flood. As one doctor warned, don’t spike the football after making a few first downs, wait until you’re in the end zone.

 

What’s Happening

Republican governors in Texas and Mississippi announced recently they’re ending statewide

mask mandates and limits on occupancy in eating places and other businesses, steps already taken by Florida’s Republican governor, Ron DeSantis.  GOP chief executives in Iowa and Montana ended mask requirements in February. Republican governors in Arkansas and Alabama said they’d suspend mask orders in late March and early April, though that move in Arkansas depends on testing results and hospitalizations.

One Democratic governor, Connecticut’s Ned Lamont, kept the mask requirement in place, but eliminated indoor dining capacity limits. He also expanded how many people can attend sporting events.

Different motives likely lay behind these moves, some probably benign, some likely cynical, and some perhaps the result of citizen pressure. Benign explanations included increasing vaccination rates and a declining number of infections. Continuing politicization

of the  pandemic by former President Donald Trump and his allies made it likely some GOP governors simply sought political favor with Trump supporters who never liked masks, social distancing, and other anti-COVID 19 measures. Texas Governor Greg Abbott, in particular, wants to position himself for a presidential run in 2024 and drew blowback from Texas Democrats who suspected a political motive in his roll back order. These actions place political interests above those of the citizenry. 

We admit public pressure could affect some governors. Americans, even those who support mask wearing and other anti-COVID 19 safety measures, are tired of how the virus has disrupted their lives. They want a return to normal, even despite evidence the fight isn’t over. We think such an attitude equates to taking a cast off a broken leg before the bone heals because the patient finds the cast inconvenient. In this instance, removing the cast could have deadly consequences.  

Neanderthal Thinking

Orders issued by Abbott and Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves didn’t go unchallenged. President Biden, who has garnered 70% public approval (44% of Republicans) for his handling of the pandemic, called the moves “Neanderthal thinking.” The president said of the crisis, “It’s not over yet.” He urged that Americans, “Stay vigilant.”

Rochelle Walenski, director of the Centers for Disease Control, expressed “deep concern”

about the trajectory of the pandemic, and added, “Now is not the time to relax critical safeguards.” Other public health experts like Dr. Anthony Fauci also warned against prematurely discarding masks and social distancing requirements. 

 

A Personal Story

One of us, Rob, suffered a severe case of COVID 19 last fall, spending five days in a hospital, three of them on oxygen, though not a respirator. After a harrowing day of hallucinations (“I thought I was walking on the ceiling,” he said), his condition dictated treatment with experimental drugs and steroids. Almost as bad as the hospital time was the recovery. Unlike the recovery from other illnesses in a life of almost seven decades, this recovery featured not a smooth road back to good health but resembled a discomforting trek along a jagged, uneven path littered with rocks and boulders. For every two steps forward, the route required at least one backwards. For the better part of a month after the hospital, nothing tasted good, not even water. The sense of smell vanished. Yes, some people suffered mild forms of the illness, but no one should underestimate the perils of even a moderate case. This isn’t the flu. Rob’s advice: Do everything possible to avoid getting this disease.

 

A War Metaphor

After a vigorous discussion, we found ourselves agreeing with Woodson’s label of

“irresponsible” for those who give in to impatience and prematurely discard measures that health experts know stop the spread of

COVID 19. He  has a point that this is a war, as 

the infection and death numbers show. An army can’t quit before winning the war, especially not with victory in sight, when a loss could decimate the entire army.

Through the efforts of scientists, we

have vaccines that work. Thanks to now having a president who takes the issue seriously, vaccine distribution works. The president says by the end of May every adult American, about 255 million people, who wants a vaccination can get one. That’s a real win. We can lose now only by giving the game away. No reason exists for doing that. We can make the numbers work now.  

                

   

FIRST BIG DECISION FOR THE BIDEN ADMINISTRATION: THE CLOCK TICKS

 

Joe Biden and Kamala Harris took office January 20, assuming the burden of righting the American ship. They have a big job and not long for getting it done.  They’ll have

tough decisions before long. Political reality and history teach that the clock has already started ticking on what they can accomplish.

Presidential terms run four years, but windows of opportunity for passing major legislation close quickly under the weight of pent-up frustrations in a president’s own party, approaching mid-term elections, and opposition candidates revving their engines on runways for the next presidential race. Biden enjoys no exemption from this cruel cycle. Anyone looking hard enough can 

see it looming in the distance.

Biden’s Burden

Biden’s first days have made clear his priorities: (1) get the pandemic under control,(2) fix the related economic problems, (3) address climate change, and (4) attack racial injustice. Biden’s team acknowledges things like infrastructure, tax reform, and rectifying some of former President Donald Trump’s  excesses must wait. That array of priorities creates challenges and opportunities.

Fires rage around the four priorities and many reasons exist for tackling them first.  The country watches carefully. Other than the rabid COVID-19 deniers, most Americans want an end to the death, pain, and personal sacrifice that go with the pandemic.  We can’t imagine anyone being happy with the job losses and business disruption. Many of us have been railing about climate change and racial injustice for years. A strong desire exists for taking on Biden’s targeted issues.

That doesn’t mean his solutions will get unanimous support, or even enough for solid progress. He has offered big, bold proposals for dealing with all four problems. He wants, for example, a $1.9 trillion COVID-19

relief package that includes big stimulus checks, minimum wage increases, significant dollars for cash-strapped state and local governments, and vaccine distribution money.

That’s where the hard choices come. Because Biden’s proposals will draw Republican opposition – even obstruction – he soon must choose between proceeding in the bipartisan way he prefers and taking what he can get with only Democratic support. Thanks to Harris as vice president, he enjoys a one-vote majority in the senate. Speaker Nancy Pelosi presides over a narrow Democratic advantage in the House. Biden has so far refused invitations to set deadlines, but everyone expects a day of reckoning will come. He can keep seeking bipartisan approval or go it alone, knowing he must act quickly or lose his chance. 

 

The Politics

Right now, Biden’s Democratic support results from a coalition of the willing. Moderate

Democrats cut in the mold of senators like Dick Durban of Illinois and John Hickenlooper, a rookie from Colorado, and progressives like Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and New York Representative Alexandria

Ocasio Cortez remain on board. Nobody knows how long Biden (and Harris) can keep this fragile alliance together. He’s avoided a fracture by making cabinet and staff appointments that have something for everybody and issuing executive orders addressing the pent-up frustrations of both sides of his potentially divided house, a house motivated by intense distaste for Trump. With Trump gone, how long this glue sticks remains an open question.   

Across the aisle, some Republicans see the virtue in working with Biden. How many isn’t clear. It’s likely a small number in either house of Congress. Assuming the filibuster rule remains, if it’s ten in the Senate, Biden could get 60 votes and potentially pass broad legislation, like he’s proposed on COVID-19. If it’s one or two, or zero, he’s probably reduced to a stand-alone vaccine distribution bill many Republicans would vote for or something he could pass under budget reconciliation that only requires 51 votes. It’s hard to imagine what such bills would look like, but they won’t have the big, bold provisions Biden wants.

Many Republicans will say they oppose Biden’s bills – especially the COVID-19 relief package -- because of cost. Ordinarily they’d have a point, but under the current unique circumstances, their argument holds much less weight. With interest rates as low as they are, the government can borrow for a big relief package for next to nothing. Given how much the pandemic costs in health care expenses, lost tax revenue, and infrastructure expenditures incurred in fighting the disease, arguably the nation can’t afford not enacting a big package.  

A Little History

Biden should keep in mind Barack Obama’s

2009-10 experience with the Affordable Care Act. Obama believed he could get Republican support if he scaled back the bill by (1) leaving out a public option and (2) modeling the program after what Mitt Romney implemented in Massachusetts. Democrats screamed, but Obama held firm. GOP votes  never came and Obama, having lost his 60-seat senate majority with the

death of Ted Kennedy and the surprise victory of Scott Brown in a Massachusetts special election, settled for no public option and passing the bill under 

the reconciliation 

procedure.

Biden was there, of course, as vice president, so he’s  aware of the dilemma he’ll soon face. The fact the country wants COVID relief as 

badly as it does arguably gives him cover. If he can make real progress on ending the pandemic, many people outside Washington won’t care what he asked Congress for and did or didn’t get. He can declare victory and take on the next problem with good will stored away.

Biden doesn’t have forever. Republicans have started showing their hand, complaining about the size and scope of many of his proposals and asking why he hasn’t  consulted

more with them. Nearly everyone wants bipartisan solutions to the nation’s problems -- except those who don’t and, unfortunately, some of them serve in Congress.   

                     

THOUGHTS ON THE NEW ADMINISTRATION’S AGENDA: A LITTLE ADVICE FROM FRIENDS

 

In a month, Joseph Robinette Biden, Jr. takes the oath of office as the 46^th President of the United States and Kamala Devi Harris the oath as the 49^th Vice President of the United States.  She becomes the first woman to hold either office.

They take over at a difficult, perilous time. A once-in-a-century pandemic rages, accompanied by devastating economic consequences. The country remains politically and racially divided as killings by police of African Americans continue and criminal justice reform remains undone. Climate change poses an existential threat to the entire planet. Biden and Harris have plenty to do and we have some advice for them on their agenda.

COVID, COVID, COVID
Biden has long acknowledged subduing the Coronavirus pandemic would represent his first and most pressing challenge. It’s difficult not to view the leadership void on COVID-19 as the Trump Administration’s greatest failure. As to Biden’s challenge, we recognize that not only did Trump fail through inaction (e.g., never effectively using the Defense Production Act) and lies (“We’re turning the corner.”), he made things worse by poisoning the well with the public in ways that will make Biden’s job more difficult. 

Biden thinks (correctly) we can tamp down the virus through measures like mask wearing and social distancing until vaccines essentially eviscerate the disease. Because of Trump’s politicization of mask wearing and social distancing, Biden will have difficulty getting buy-in on sacrifices that fight the virus in the interregnum between now and widespread vaccine distribution next spring and summer.

By tying vaccine development to his re-election campaign, Trump made some think vaccines now being rolled out were rushed for political purposes. Combine that with a growing, general anti-vax crowd and skepticism about medical researchers based on history in the black community, not as many people may take a vaccine as needed for complete effectiveness.

Biden must enlist every political icon (former Presidents Clinton, Bush, and Obama say they’ll get vaccinated publicly), celebrity, community leader, and trusted religious figure in encouraging vaccination and adherence to the measures still needed for suppressing the virus. Without beating COVID-19, Biden can’t get the economy going. He must push for a new stimulus/relief package from Congress. Yes, we know Mitch McConnell will likely stand in the way, but Biden must make clear to the American people who stands with whom. A president who pushes for what many Americans need so badly could make a difference. Biden can show there remains that thing called the “bully pulpit.” 

Race
At some point, every American president gets an exam question on race. Nearly all fail. Biden has a unique opportunity because, based on the protests last summer, much of the country seems ready to try. The old political barriers remain, but that’s no excuse for inaction. We see several legislative approaches Biden should support and push for:
·    enactment of the John Lewis Voting Rights Act (it’s already passed the House);
·    revising many of the actions taken in the 1994 crime bill Biden played a role in passing, emphasizing reducing incarceration for minor drug offenses;
·    limiting criminal and civil immunity in police shooting cases;
·    ending no-knock warrants; and
·    reform measures that would foster increased use of psychologists and social workers, not police officers, in certain domestic situations and other encounters that often lead to police shootings.

State and local governments probably can accomplish more on some of these things, but federal legislation could establish goals and guidelines.

We also think there’s merit in dusting off President Clinton’s “National Conversation on Race” idea. We have an open mind about what form such an effort should take. We know one thing: if we won’t talk about a problem as big, as morally important as this, it won’t ever get solved.

Climate
We’ve written on this a few times, but not enough. We promise we’ll do better. This year – this awful 2020— demonstrated the issue’s importance. Wildfires in the west, storm damage in the middle of the country, and hurricanes and tropical storms in the Southeast and on the Gulf Coast represent the most visible examples of the gravity of the climate change problem.  At least now we have a president who doesn’t deny the science and accepts that not much time remains for addressing the problem.

Biden has taken two steps we heartily endorse. He says he’ll immediately put the United States back into the Paris Climate Accord. This signals the new administration’s seriousness about making America a major participant in anti-climate change efforts. 

Second, Biden has named former State Secretary John Kerry his special climate advisor. Kerry knows this issue well and will sit on the National Security Council since climate change constitutes a national security issue.

We suggest an “all of the above” climate 

approach that advocates multiple ideas. Some special interest will fight every climate proposal. Even corporations professing

support for action on climate change present much different ideas than climate activists. The administration, therefore, should not hang its hat on any one solution. It will lose legal, legislative, and administrative battles, so it needs a comprehensive, multi-faceted approach. We see this problem as so big and so important; Biden must remain creative and push every idea that might do some good.  

       What advice would you offer on the Biden-Harris agenda?