Our national leaders have moved too slowly in responding to the spread of COVID-19, and thousands — or even millions — may pay the price. If the federal government is not up to preparing for the potential of hundreds of thousands of hospital patients at once, then our state and local leaders must do so. Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Mayor Lori Lightfoot are moving more quickly, to their credit, but there is much more to be done.
Can Chicago Public Schools’ vacant buildings or McCormick Place be converted to emergency medical clinics? Can laid-off workers be quickly retrained as orderlies and nurse’s aides to augment our stressed medical professionals? Can our local universities’ science labs be pressed into service as medical testing facilities?
I, as a layman, do not have the answers, but our governor and mayor need to be asking questions like these now before it is too late for all of us.
Benjamin Recchie, Little Italy
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This is not a hoax
Hey, Rush! Hey, Sean! If the coronavirus is nothing but a Democratic hoax, then the whole world must be in on it.
Leonard Hall, LaGrange Highlands
Common sense, not panic
I praise the leaders of our great state for making the tough decisions necessary to reduce the number of deaths, keep us safe and greatly lessen the impact on our hospitals. The financial impact should be much less than if we did nothing at all, as Italy learned the hard way. Our nation will recover. We always do. We need to use common sense over panic. There will be lessons learned, too. Cutting the Centers for Disease Control budget made no sense. Same goes for building a wall.
Vote for people who can be trusted to do the right thing for the people.
Tom DeDore, Garfield Ridge
The big difference
President Harry Truman said, “The buck stops here.” President Donald Trump says, “I don’t take responsibility at all.”
Bob Barth, Edgewater
Multiple bailouts
The GOP always screams about the sin of “bailouts.” They insist that markets and industries, such as the auto industry, should be allowed to take their natural course. Well, now it’s time for them to handle the possibility of multiple “bailouts.”
Will they let economic markets take their natural course?
Warren Rodgers Jr., Matteson
