Coronavirus: I’m almost 82 and I readily admit that I am scared | Letters
My late afternoons/evenings are seemingly normal, as they were BC (before COVID), although the subject of the news broadcasts reminds me they are not.
I watch TV or read. I sleep OK. Then I wake up and realize what a nightmare I am living. I am virtually a prisoner in my own home.
I no longer go to the Heritage Library as a volunteer researcher and help patrons with their lineage research. I don’t go to the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office and work the reception desk. I can’t go to Coastal Discovery Museum and welcome visitors to our paradise.
I go only to the post office once a week as I get no vital mail at my home address. That was always a security factor before. Now I may be putting my life in danger.
I readily admit I am scared. I am almost 82 years old with some underlying non-respiratory health issues. This time next month – or the next – I could be dead. And while as a Christian I do not fear death, I am not ready to leave this world – not without seeing my family again. If I become a victim, I will not see them again in this life.
What is next? We will never go back to what used to be.
I am concerned about stores and restaurants opening too soon. We must continue to be vigilant. Please wear masks in public and use sanitizing agents. You are protecting yourself as well as others.
Sunni Bond
Hilton Head Island
America must listen to doctors
Whose facts to believe? Politicians or medical professionals?
As a doctor who has performed “minor” invasive procedures for over 40 years, I know PPE. On a daily basis I put on cap, gown, mask and gloves (PPE) to protect the patient from any microbes I might carry; and me from any they might have. Some might call this common sense.
Remember Tuberculosis sanitariums? Leper colonies in the Bible? Like these, one of the mainstays of controlling communicable diseases is isolation. In hospital it’s done to protect everyone else while the treatment has time to control the disease. With a virus that’s not only highly contagious but more virulent, we can’t just isolate those infected. The time for that (containment) was in January. A lost opportunity.
Now we have to mitigate. And we have no proven treatment. So actions include: proper PPE and equipment for health care workers; #Stay at Home, wear a mask and gloves at the grocery, wash your hands; and social distancing.
Tune out the politicians who have many axes to grind and no real qualifications to be talking to us about health care issues affecting their re-election.
Listen to Dr. Anthony Fauci and other real experts. Unfortunately, he’s a trivial part of the daily campaign rally disguised as a “presser,” but can be found on other media outlets for factual information.
If you’re sick, contact your doctor via telemedicine visits, which most have already obtained. They can tell you if you need further evaluation at clinic or hospital.
John MacLaurin
Doctor of osteopathic medicine
Hilton Head Island
Here’s how to get a grip on spiraling national debt
As a former fifth-grade math and science teacher, I used to teach my students how to read and write numbers in the millions, billions and even trillions. It’s difficult for adults to understand the differences, let alone 10- to 11-year-olds.
So consider this:
1 million seconds (1,000,000) = 11.6 days.
1 billion seconds (1,000,000,000) = 31.7 YEARS.
1 trillion seconds (1,000,000,000,000) = 31,700 YEARS (317 centuries?).
These numbers look alike and sound alike and yet the differences are beyond our human comprehension.
And to think, if possible, that our government is spending $2 trillion ($2,000,000,000,000) for our economic stimulus recovery program.
No wonder we have a $20,000,000,000,000 national debt.
Jim Reeves
Hilton Head Island
A play in two acts
Synopsis of Act 1: a nation is facing a pandemic crisis; the president, responding to an early warning from his team, authorized immediate nationwide execution of the predefined Pandemic Action Plan. The heart of the plan was the timely isolation of the virus through social distancing, closure of non-essential business, travel restrictions and widespread testing.
To prevent mass unemployment and minimize other economic disruption, the plan required small businesses to retain staff and issue normal paychecks, including an estimate of lost tips.
Small businesses with an established banking connection took payroll plus other covered expenses to their bank for reimbursement. (Those without prior connections also took proof of business.) The bank forwarded a summary of payments for reimbursement from federal funds. Additional individual compensation authorized by legislation was transferred via this same route.
Since existing banks and money flows were utilized and new transaction types and volume minimized, there were few delays and no huge demand and cost for temporary expansion of unemployment or other government functions. Act 1 also provided for those not discussed above.
At the end of Act 1, lives were still lost, and people endured social disruption, but the curve flattened well before it stressed every aspect of life and a viable business structure was preserved for the future.
The reality of Act 2 is being written as we continue to be behind the power curve in containing this overheated pandemic. Unfortunately, the final totals for human tragedy and economic disaster are still to be determined.
Richard Wallace
Hilton Head Island
MAGA ‘liberators,’ go home and stay there
I can’t for the life of me understand the MAGA-hat-wearing people in Michigan who protested the governor’s stay-home order, massed at the Statehouse, pressed cheek by jowl without masks or gloves, waving signs about their rights being trampled. I don’t know what the heck they are thinking, but I have a message for them.
Your reckless behavior endangers not only you but also the rest of us. As you wander around, possibly infected and spreading the virus, you could encounter someone that I know and love and give COVID-19 to one of them or to me. Your “right” to do whatever the heck you please stops 10 yards from my eyes, nose, lips, and lungs.
Since it is clear that you don’t give a darn about me, let me put the danger to you in context. COVID-19 is highly infectious and we don’t have natural immunity or medicines to cure or protect us. By ignoring the scientific evidence and gathering in packs, you expose yourselves to the risk that you will contract the illness. If that happens and if it affects you severely, you will end up on a ventilator. Few of you will survive ventilation and your families will be bankrupted by the cost of your hospitalization and care.
So, unless you want to become one of the 35,000 COVID-19 statistics, smarten up, go home, and stay there until medical experts (not politicians worried about re-election) say that it’s OK to resume “normal” life.
Mike Campanella
Beaufort
A tip to show your perspective
I suggest that writers of letters to the editor include a statement declaring their current situation: working, retired, or unemployed. This would allow the reader to better understand the writer’s perspective.
Pete Shaw
Callawassie Island
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This story was originally published April 24, 2020 at 10:55 AM.