Hospitals are having to make decisions of who they try to save and those that they will just have to let die because they lack staff and facilities to care for all those needing their help. Yet we have a Legislature that could not pass a simple bill that would allow the state to temporarily waive legally required background checks on new medical staff that could be saving lives. As a result, hospitals remain understaffed to the point of being in crisis mode.
We have a governor who could easily declare an emergency and waive the background checks, but he refuses to do so. A governor who is suing the federal government saying that mandates are unconstitutional, yet the U.S. Supreme Court, in Jacobson vs. Massachusetts in the midst of the smallpox epidemic in 1905, ruled that the greater good trumped the objections of the few.
In Anchorage, we have a mayor who refuses to do anything to help stop COVID and an Assembly that can’t muster the votes to override the mayor. Those who we elected to serve all of us, not just the few anti-vaxxers and anti-maskers, have been totally irresponsible leading to unnecessary death, suffering and economic hardship. They pander to the few at the expense of the majority who care enough to get vaccinated and wear masks when appropriate.
Hospitals, when the politicians show up with COVID-19, will you send them home as they are not worth saving, or will you be caring humans and treat everyone, no matter their beliefs?
— Jerry George
Anchorage
Have something on your mind? Send to letters@adn.com or click here to submit via any web browser. Letters under 200 words have the best chance of being published. Writers should disclose any personal or professional connections with the subjects of their letters. Letters are edited for accuracy, clarity and length.