Reader reaction to coronavirus: Letters to the editor, March 29, 2020

We all need gloves, sanitizer, masks

COVID-19 is here. We are sheltering in place. We have most of what we need. Here is the problem. When I go out to get my essentials, I am still potentially exposed to the virus.

Gloves are very hard to come by. Hand sanitizer and face masks are impossible to find. How can this be?

Each citizen needs a box delivered to their doorstep containing face masks, hand sanitizer, basic cleansers and gloves. Can our local, state or federal government handle this? Now? We need this to stay healthy and keep the curve low. COVID-19 is here. It’s going to get worse.

Fear, anxiety for nurses now

Suddenly having a resident with a fever is the next level of anxiety.

Normally, we attribute these fevers with common underlying causes — UTI, PNA, flu. Call the doctor, do some diagnostics, pharmaceutical interventions, ie antibiotics, fever reducers, fluids, etc. Now, I have to worry, is this the “case” we know is coming? Is this the beginning of the spread in my facility? Where are those testing kits? Will we lose any of our beloved residents? If ever we needed a diagnostic, it’s certainly now.

Yet, we have no idea when tests may become available to our residents. We feel like sitting ducks. We don’t worry for our own well-being, we worry for the well-being of our residents. The “fear” and “anxiety” is beginning to become palpable in our facility, but we press on with tentative smiles and continue to care for our residents and try to calm their fears.

This is what nursing feels like right now. I know I am not alone in this feeling.

Solution for U.S. debt to China

Viruses originating from China include H5N1 bird flu, swine flu, SARS, MERS, H1N1, and now — with devastating result — COVID-19.

China’s communist regime has absolute power to shut down the wild animal meat markets that spawn these diseases. Instead, they cover up the scandal to save face, costing the rest of the world valuable response time and plunging the world into economic chaos.

But here’s an equitable solution: Cancel the debt to China. The Trump-congressional economic stimulus in response to coronavirus is going to be about$2 trillion. As of last December, the U.S. debt to China was over $1 trillion. So, it’s only fair that we notify the Chinese government that our debt is, as of now, paid in full.

In light of their global negligence, and most recently their attempt to deflect blame for spreading the illness by pointing fingers at the U.S. military, China should be held accountable. Unfortunately, no amount of financial accountability will comfort the grief currently felt in Italy; but with respect to China a worldwide loss of face might be a start.

We need more doctors — now

We have a critical physician shortage in America. It’s being exposed dramatically by the COVID-19 pandemic. There is a solution. Traditionally, physician training has been funded by the federal government, specifically through Medicare. But Congress has neglected the necessary funding expansion for decades. Resident physicians or doctors in training are the backbone of our medical culture. Interns or residents work 80 hours a week for roughly $10-15 an hour. If you or a loved one have been treated in a teaching hospital or clinic your care likely involved a resident physician who is supervised by an attending or a physician who completed her training in a particular specialty. All American hospitals and ambulatory clinics have been handicapped by the federal government.

As our population grows and gets sicker, federal funding to create new spots for physicians to train essentially has not changed. When politicians talk about cutting Medicare, you should translate it as reducing the physician health-care force.

Call Washington D.C., Sacramento, or your local politicians and tell them to put the health of the country first and pass sweeping legislation that will adequately fund graduate medical education and add to the physician workforce.

Companies have moral duty for health care

There is a huge problem in this country. We have large employers, like Amazon, who haven’t “gotten it” that we’re in big trouble. COVID-19 is on the war path, and it’s going to take as many with it as it can. It doesn’t care of your party affiliation. It doesn’t care if you’re rich, poor, or in between. It’s nondiscriminatory. And it kills.

So in this time, when every American is not only at risk of getting sick, but of losing everything because of job loss, people who own these large companies need to step up to the plate. One did. Jeff Bezos. Jeff owns the Washington Post, Whole Foods, and of course, Amazon. So what did Mr. Bezos do for his employees? At Amazon, only certain employees are getting two weeks paid sick leave. The rest got a $25 gift card to, you guessed it, Amazon. The employees at Whole Foods are being asked to donate their sick leave and give to someone who is sick.

It’s time we send him a message. I’m asking for all of us to boycott Amazon and Whole Foods. Let him feel pain like the rest of us.

This story was originally published March 29, 2020 at 6:00 AM with the headline "Reader reaction to coronavirus: Letters to the editor, March 29, 2020."