Coronavirus concerns: Letters to the editor, March 13, 2020

Virus is no hoax, not minor illness

I keep thinking I can’t be shocked by our current president, but he continues to shock me. This time it’s over the coronavirus.

Here we have a president who is spreading lies about this virus, not to try to calm a panic-stricken country. No, he does it because he thinks it will help cement his re-election. Let’s take a look at our fearless leader: He has told us that the virus is a hoax, perpetrated by the media and Democrats, to try to smear his good name. He told us it’s not nearly as deadly as they’re proclaiming because his “hunch” tells him the truth; he told us we can all go to work, stop freaking out, you’re ruining the stock market.

Yes, this is the America I live in now. I have to say, I don’t much like it.

Good time off policies needed

Paid-time-off polices will contribute to the spread of the coronavirus. My spouse works at one of the courthouses in downtown Fresno. Like many employers the county lumps its vacation time and sick time into a single pool, forcing its employees to choose between vacation and being sick.

Policies such as this virtually guarantee the spread of the virus once it enters a place of business, as employees will inevitably come to work if they only have a cough or are a"little tired" or will be forced to come to work because they have no PTO left.

Management is often unprepared for large numbers of staff out sick and lack adequate remote-work options.

Some workers have compromised immune systems or underlying health conditions (age, diabetes, etc.) that could greatly contribute to serious medical complications or cause death, or they have family members with these conditions.

Please talk to management at your place of business about preparedness regarding this virus. You don't need to treat it like the apocalypse, but please consider your current policies and how they can be changed temporarily to mitigate the spread of this disease.

More like Russia or China than U.S.A

Don’t we live in America? With the new actions of the White House regarding the novel coronavirus, it’s beginning to seem more like Russia or China.

First, preparedness is delayed until we actually have the virus on our shores, then the vice president, who has no scientific background, is put in charge of the nation’s response. Now all informational announcements about the virus are to be vetted by the White House before they are made public? So once again with this administration, we are not to trust our professional and scientific communities, but rather the executive branch of the government, headed by a president who is known to tell as many lies as truths and who is primarily interested in his own re-election.

Choosing political policy over freedom of information will cause me to question whatever I hear coming from the White House. Is what I hear true, or is it sugarcoated, or is it a downright lie that is an attempt to make the president look good? This is a very poor public health policy and it is putting all of us at even greater risk.

We have faced pandemics before

Here we go again. A response to a national health crisis was quite different 17 years ago then it is today. In 2003, when the coronavirus SARS was announced, there was no immediate panic. Americans were not restricted on movement, and quarantine precautions were not taken on pleasure boats. Skip to 2009–10, the H1N1 swine flu. Again another suspect product of China.

And now my all-time favorite pestilence — the dreaded Zika virus. If your memory is still intact, in 2016 Zika almost brought the Brazil Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games to a halt, all because possible side effects on a woman’s pregnancy might cause her baby to be born naked.

Coronavirus not like any other flu

Cresencio Rodriguez-Delgado’s article, “Valley patient tests negative for coronavirus. Positive cases rise in California,” on March 2 seems to be taking a light stance on what started out as a epidemic and is quickly ramping up to be a pandemic disease on the rise.

The coronavirus is spreading at an alarming rate and is affecting many different countries, taking the lives of thousands. The current precautions of self-quarantining and avoiding touching sensitives areas of the face is simply not enough. California’s state officials need to take action and set the bar of what needs to be done to protect the people, by testing more people and sharing those results with other states and medical professionals.

Coronavirus is an aggressive disease that needs to be dealt with the same aggression, and not pushed to the side like any other flu.

This story was originally published March 13, 2020 at 6:00 AM with the headline "Coronavirus concerns: Letters to the editor, March 13, 2020."