6 • July 17 - 18, 2020 OPINION bransonglobe.com COVID-19 is our common enemy. Why the political left and right should unite to save lives By Joan Blades and Ralph Benko, usatoday.com The resurgence of the coronavirus has thrust the pandemic back to the fore of our national consciousness. Living vs. making a living? A false dichotomy. We don’t believe that these values to be mutually exclusive. Both are possible, both necessary. And we need each other to figure out how to make both happen. Political heresy? No. Kim Rohde Publisher (417) 872-2951 lkimrohde@yahoo.com Brenda Meadows Editor & Staff Writer (417) 231-7601 info@BransonGlobe.com David Stoltz News Correspondent (228) 355-2900 itcdls@gmail.com Gary Groman, a.k.a. The Ole Seagull Columnist Emeritus KD Michaels Staff Writer (417) 251-2776 Rob Doherty Account Representative & Distribution Manager (504) 583-8907 robd@bransonglobe.com Karen Halfpop Digital/Production Director production@ BransonGlobe.com Submit a letter to the editor: Letters to the editor that are sent via e-mail and are fewer than 400 words are given preference. Published or unpublished letters become the property of the newspaper and will not be returned. All letters must include name, address, and verifiable phone number. The pandemic represents what folklore holds as the Chinese character for crisis: a “dangerous opportunity.” As supply-side econoLETTERS Dear Editor, As President of Cox Medical Center Branson, I’m contacting you to share evidence on the importance of masking with the paper and the public. While there is no science to indicate when it’s too early to mask, our experts say science can tell us when it’s too late. We’re getting close to the point when it’s time to act. At CoxHealth, we experienced a 43% growth in total positive lab results last week and an overall increase of 10% positive rates when comparing July cases with June cases. The increased hospital testing, rapidly growing number of virus cases in Stone and Taney counties, strained regional hospitals, and an increase of people mist Paul Romer first observed, “a crisis is a terrible thing to waste.” The surface tension between maintaining both physical and fiscal health points to a deeper underlying crisis. It offers a path out of both the surface and the deep crisis. What deep crisis? Prof. Daniel Dellaposta observed recently in the American Sociological Review, “The structure of U.S. opinion has shifted in ways suggesting troubling implications for proponents of political and social pluralism.” Only a threat of the complexity and magnitude of the pandemic is powerful enough to bring hereditary enbeing tested at our Mobile Testing Unit (MTU) from 4/day at the beginning of July to 30/day as of last week, are signs for action. Our positive results are increasing because the disease is beginning to grow rapidly in prevalence, not because we are increasing the number of people we are testing. This is leading us to great concerns for our communities’ health and future. Bottom line, the virus is rapidly growing in our area. Our local and regional health departments are reporting surges in cases. Northwest Arkansas is in a surge and Joplin appears to be in the throes of a similar surge. Additionally, nearby hospitals are becoming strained and sending cases they emies, like us, together. One of us is the cofounder of MoveOn.org, the other the co-founder of TheCapitalistLeague.com. I, Ralph, the conservative Republican, recognize my adversary Joan’s authentic compassion in holding that without a coordinated response, including government action, to flatten the curve she would have reasonable grounds to fear waves of infections that could overwhelm our medical personnel and capacity, intensifying both loss of life and economic devastation. This is a counsel of practical compassion. Not tyranny. cannot handle to CoxHealth. Our neighboring communities have increased their case numbers so high it has made national news, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is on the ground. While CoxHealth has physical capacity at this point, and plenty of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), we have limitations on important medications such as Remdesivir. The distribution of this drug is controlled by the state government due to its scarcity; we have enough for ten patients at this point. We also have limited access to convalescent plasma. Many of our most acute patients need treatment by both therapies to have a chance at a positive outcome. BransonGlobe Your source for local news and entertainment Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances. info@BransonGlobe.com • Phone: (417) 334-9100 • Fax: (417) 334-3767 • 1447 US Hwy. 248, Suite EE, Branson, MO 65616 BransonGlobe.com I, Joan, the progressive Democrat, recognize my adversary Ralph’s heartfelt concern that an overbearing, “one-size-fits-all,” quarantine can produce an unacceptable level of economic agony, especially among members of the working class. Not everyone has sufficient resources, nor is the government capable of indefinitely funding an economy many times larger than the resources it can responsibly command. This is a counsel of practical compassion. Not callousness. SEE COVID-19, PAGE 7 Myths are circulating that wearing a mask can make you pass out, or that if you can hold your breath for 10 seconds, you do not have the virus. Neither of these are true. There is no compelling evidence that masking causes harm, yet there is compelling evidence that masking can slow the transmission rate (look at the Springfield Great Clips episode). That’s why we believe the next logical step to combat COVID-19 is to put a city masking ordinance in place as soon as possible. It has become clear in city after city that once this disease gains momentum, the time to mitigate has most often already passed – and occurs after hospiSEE LETTERS, PAGE 7 @BransonGlobe BransonGlobe @BransonGlobe #Branson Globe
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