Sloppy job now in reopening Hilton Head will prolong problems, haunt future | Letters
What makes folks think the country is safer with about 1.4 million cases of the virus that we have today, versus the 30,000 we had when we shut down 2-1/2 months ago?
Imagine if Hilton Head Island was a virus-free sanctuary. Imagine it was the only virus-free vacation destination sanctuary on the East Coast. Imagine that everyone who comes on the island, workers or visitors, has to take the 10-minute COVID-19 protein identification test. (These will be available in mass quantities in a few weeks and can be self-administered.)
People would flock to such a sanctuary. They’d pay a premium for peace of mind.
Imagine instead a sloppy re-opening of businesses (like the one we are doing now). Imagine a large spike of virus infections. Will people rush to vacation on an island with a couple thousand cases of COVID-19? They’ll stay away in droves. Just look at New York City, one of the country’s greatest vacation destinations. You can go bowling on 5th Avenue.
A sloppy re-opening is a formula for economic disaster, not just for this year, but next year as well. The principles of simple mathematics and economics seem to have escaped the people managing our re-opening.
We’ve been lucky so far. Why not enhance our luck with our policies instead of destroying it?
David Else
Hilton Head Island
A problem that wasn’t
It takes but a brief human encounter to realize one’s blessings.
A recent April windstorm gently laid a large hickory tree on the roof of a small, detached studio at our home. Contact with insurers soon revealed an obscene deductible for wind damage. Clearly this was going to be an out-of -pocket deal.
The roofer started work on a Saturday to replace about thirty percent of the metal roof. (He was dealing with English as a second language; I was limited to Lowcountry English)
As he was cleaning the job site that afternoon he said he had a bit more work to do and would return on Tuesday.
I asked: “How about Monday?” He noted he had to take his young daughter to the doctor in Charleston on Monday.
Upon asking a bit more about her he noted she had a spinal ailment. Our language difference made impossible the determination of a precise medical term. Further conversation revealed among his other children he had an autistic son.
I stopped asking questions. Walking away with an inadequate, “I hope things go well,” I was swept with the realization that my problems with a hickory tree and an insurance carrier were really not problems at all.
Emmett McCracken
Bluffton
Trump fails as a leader
In these times of massive economic and social upheaval due to the pandemic, it is useful to examine the way leaders handled crises in history.
Winston Churchill, arguably one of the greatest leaders of the 20th century, became prime minister of England in 1940 just as the Nazis had swept through Europe.
England’s military was poorly equipped and considered no match for Germany’s war machine. England was considered a lost cause by many.
Churchill immediately took to the airwaves to tell the English people the truth, against the advice of some of his aides who thought the truth would “scare” them.
He also frequently talked to the people, encouraging them and imploring them to stick together, and that they would ultimately win. Churchill had to fight some in his government, who thought he was dangerously crazy and was giving false hope where none existed.
At the end of one of his speeches, he offered these memorable words: “We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our island whatever the cost may be ...”
Recently, when President Donald Trump, the leader of the free world, was asked about virus testing delays, he replied, “I’m not responsible at all.”
England won World War II with the help of the United States and its allies.
Terry Gibson
Lady’s Island
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This story was originally published May 15, 2020 at 9:05 AM.