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More caution ahead of Jan. 1

We urge area residents thinking about gathering to celebrate the New Year — understanding that most of us can’t wait until 2020 is over. Yes, we are beating the drum of caution and safety again because with COVID-19, we are not out of the woods yet. In many ways, COVID-19 is more dangerous than ever in most states. Public health officials cautioned us all about large family gatherings for Thanksgiving and Christmas. The surge of COVID-19 cases now is evidence many people paid no heed to the warnings. They went ahead with festivities of the type enjoyed for years — and the ...

A shot in the arm

It is true that the COVID-19 vaccine is only as good as the number of people who take it. Keep that in mind. You want to see your family and friends? Get the shot when it becomes available. You want to get back to work? Get the shot when it becomes available. You want to gradually return to the “normal” life you had before the virus? Get the shot when it becomes available. It’s been challenging to find sustained joy during this bleak 2020. But we can feel some sense of relief as the coronavirus vaccine begins to slowly make its way through our beleaguered society, ...

Whatever you believe

Whatever you believe, we hope you agree that, in this season of both hurt and hope, these holidays are meant for us all to recognize what we mean to each other. No more so than now, when a disease threatens all of us while our best defense against it outside of science is each of us. Do you get that? Do you understand that, to wage a successful battle against this deadly virus, our hope for a bright future is directly tied to our mutual empathy ... and decency? Indeed, during this just passed Hanukkah and now Christmas and upcoming New Year holidays, many family and friends will ...

Prayers for those we love . . . and for brighter days

These are dark days, folks. Dark because of the virus among us. Dark because, as a result, we’re losing more people, evident by the large number of obituaries being published in your community newspapers. It is with great sadness that we report the loss of more people from our world ... our lives ... more than normal. So many wonderful people ... our family, our friends, our neighbors, our community members. We’re compelled by their legacies and their spirits to offer some simple prayers as a means of comfort: Those we love don’t go away, they walk beside us every ...

Our hospitals need financial, staffing help

Many U.S. hospitals are under siege because of COVID-19. Both in personnel and other resources, they need all the help they can get. Earlier this year, when most people thought the epidemic would peak by this fall, Congress acted wisely by including in the CARES Act a provision suspending part of a 2011 law. That statute reduces Medicare payments to hospitals by 2%, through something called the Medicare “sequester.” Whether that ever was wise is questionable. It certainly makes no sense now — but the CARES Act suspension expires on Dec. 31. U.S. Reps. David McKinley, ...

Come on Congress, people need help

ore federal help is merited because of job losses, business closings and more caused by the coronavirus. Yet, all we keep hearing is that Congress is “close” on agreeing to more federal aid to help sustain people. Unless members of Congress find a way to compromise and give Americans a Christmas through a new round of COVID-19 relief funding, the holiday season will be grim for tens of millions of people. Among many provisions in the original CARES Act was one that states had to spend all the money allocated to them under the bill by Dec. 30. In March, that may have seemed ...