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About the editor:
On “Idaho is forcing its Covid crisis on a neighbor” (front page, September 14):
Stories like this make me angry. We now know that most of these Covid cases that are overcrowding Idaho’s hospitals and spilling over to neighboring states affect those who refuse to get vaccinated.
People with heart attacks or strokes and victims of car accidents die or are threatened in their lives because there is no place for them in a hospital because the wards fill the wards.
My wife and I followed all the rules, but still got infected. We made it through at home and survived on Tylenol. Granted, we were lucky enough to survive without hospitalization or medication the beautiful and rich got, and we had few after-effects. But I wouldn’t wish it to anyone.
So if you think Covid is a joke and that the vaccine is a conspiracy against you and you get infected, do the smart people a favor and stay away from our hospitals. After all, you’re tough and you know it’s all a joke.
Edward Gallardo
Sun City West, Arizona.
About the editor:
As a family doctor and educator for more than 30 years, I have equated the ongoing Covid pandemic with war. There have been reports of moral injuries among health care providers similar to those of veterans.
I see it in me, my colleagues and my trainees. I’ve always tried to model and teach resilience. Covid has challenged my ability to do so. There is so much suffering and death that would be avoidable if our government had only focused on public health.
How to expect a dysfunctional, underserved public health system? How do we count on local, state, and national leaders who are not acting in the best interests of those they serve? How do we expect community members, co-workers, neighbors, friends, and family who don’t make the decision to protect themselves and others? How do we deal with our own persistent anger, fear, and grief? Then how do we maintain, model and teach resilience?
Among my many, many fears about this pandemic and those likely to follow is a wave of mental health problems and suicides within the health care community.
Listen to our call for help. Do everything possible to stop Covid and give us a respite.
Nancy Bermon
new York
About the editor:
On “Covid hospital admissions reach crisis level in southern intensive care units” (graphic, September 14):
In the intensive care units in the south, care is clearly rationed. Life support services are delayed, qualitatively diluted or even denied due to a lack of staff and beds.
Opinion interview
Questions about the Covid-19 vaccine and its introduction.
The question is whether this rationing is ad hoc, covert and suboptimal. Are doctors and nurses in the intensive care unit and in the emergency room becoming what political scientist Michael Lipsky calls “street-level bureaucrats” who are confronted with limited time and resources and yet have enormous discretion over life or death? The result can only be exhausted, demoralized, and morally desperate hospital staff.
While there will always be room for individual professional judgment, it is up to hospitals, and ultimately state governments, to provide clear, transparent, and legally sound guidelines for making difficult decisions about carrying patients. So far, only a few have taken on their responsibility.
Martin A. Strosberg
Schenectady, NY
The author is a former professor of health policy at Union College and Clarkson University.
Senator Sherrod Brown on the child tax credit
About the editor:
On “Some Parents Say No To A Major Child Loan” by Patrick T. Brown (guest article for comment, Sept. 16):
Talk to any parent and they will tell you, parenting is work. Child tax deduction is about honoring the dignity of this work.
Wall Street and Washington for decades maintained a system that doesn’t value the work or the people who do it. Wages were too low and no matter how hard they work, parents cannot bear the high cost of raising children. We’re changing that and letting the parents’ hard work pay off.
Many of the Ohio parents I hear about are taking advantage of these tax cuts to afford childcare so they can go to work and provide their children with a better future.
Sherrod Brown
Cleveland
The writer, a Democrat, is a US Senator from Ohio.
Fighting terrorism is counterproductive
About the editor:
On “A war rages in the shadows” (title page, September 11):
I was interviewed for this article, but my view that these wars are counterproductive was barely touched. Instead, the article emphasized that “experts” argue that counter-terrorism activities beyond Afghanistan and Iraq have been successful.
Research by the Cost of War Project suggests that it would be difficult to find evidence to support this claim. Since September 11, 2001, the US counter-terrorism overseas has been one of the main reasons for recruiting Islamist militant fighters.
US terrorism operations, especially drone strikes, are causing setbacks. Globally, there are more Islamist militant groups and more recruits for these groups than before September 11th. Historical research shows that a military approach to combating terrorist violence has rarely been effective.
It is alarming that this article gives the impression that the United States should be participating in these counterterrorism operations in many countries, just as the United States should be withdrawing from Afghanistan.
Stephanie Savell
Providence, RI
The author is co-director of the Costs of War Project at Brown University.
A “disappointing” democratic tax plan
About the editor:
On “Plan to Tax Rich Aims on Income, Not Large Wealth” (front page, September 14):
The Democrats in Congress have revealed some details of their plans to revise US tax law that are very disappointing. In particular, they plan to continue taxing capital gains less than wages and maintaining an extremely complex tax system, both of which benefit the rich who fund the political campaigns of those who write our tax laws.
The income of most rich people is capital gains, and there is no good economic reason to tax that income less than the same income earned as a salary. The complexity of our tax system serves only one purpose: it enables Congress to give some taxpayers benefits that it does not give to others, and provides a way to hide those benefits from the public.
Democrats should be ashamed of having missed an opportunity to simplify the federal tax system and make it fair for all.
Russell A. Simpson
Laredo, Texas
The author is a retired attorney and former dean of Harvard Law School.
Medicare for Everyone is the ticket to good health care
About the editor:
In “Pediatric Cancer Shouldn’t Bankrupt Families” (Guest Article of Opinion, 6th The Lucky. “
Not every American is fortunate enough to have ample savings, but what they should have – and what citizens of every other advanced nation already have – is health care that is both universal and affordable.
Health experts have been pushing for such a system for decades, namely the depositors “Medicare for All”. This would be government-funded but privately-run health care with income-based contributions, without the cost of ownership that prevents so many of us from getting timely, necessary medical care.
We have a health insurance system where you can only buy the health care you can afford. What we need is a health insurance system that gives you all the benefits you need to get better: Medicare for all is the country’s prescription to do just that.
Jay D. Brock
Fredericksburg, Virginia.
The author is a retired family doctor.
