To: All members of our Government and all concerned citizens
Some thoughts on
Corona Virus responses
Like everyone else I
am concerned about how Covid-19 is impacting our world, my neighbors,
and my family. The government response in the US has been politically
dramatic, lacking in creativity, highly damaging, and needs to focus
not only on immediate relief but also long-term solutions. As I
understand it, our work to flatten the curve is doing just that,
flattening the curve. We are spreading out the time we will see the
virus, not reducing the number of cases. Why not see if we can
reduce the spread to the vulnerable and have the rest of the
population take precautions but avoid this panicky response that is
devastating the economic lives of so many people. Do we need to
extend unemployment support for people who are impacted? Yes. Do we
need to become a government dependent populace for 2, 6 even 18
months as some have suggested? NO that is the wrong thing to do and
the wrong way to solve this problem.
I have been thinking
of the resources that sit right now squandered in disuse and the
millions of workers out of a job who could be seen as the valuable
asset that they are. I’m thinking of the hospitality industry form
tour outfits, to bus companies, to hotels, and restaurants. I have
been to business conventions around the country, Nashville, Memphis,
Louisville, Orlando, Phoenix, Salt Lake City, and many hundreds more.
I’ve been amazed at the incredible number of rooms in large
hotels, I’ve been impressed by the ability to move large groups of
people to events in minutes. I’ve been overwhelmed by the quality
of food that can be put out to serve thousands of people at one time.
Let’s move to use these facilities as isolation, quarantine, and
backup healthcare facilities. Let’s use public funds to keep
private people earning money rather than sitting at home.
Here are some
thoughts of what we can do as we move forward.
1. Quit being
dramatic – be straightforward, be bold, be strenuous in your
opinion, but don’t be dramatic. Don’t assign other peoples
motives. Don’t criticize character or intellect when you are truly
just having a disagreement.
2. Be creative –
Overall the government response has been 2 things. First, SHUT
EVERYTHING DOWN. Second, SEND MONEY. Already the statistics show
that most people who get this version of the flu will be fine, it is
the vulnerable we are worried about. It is the people who would be
at risk from the standard flu season who are at risk, maybe a greater
risk, that need protected. It is not everyone in the country that
needs protected. Here are the beginnings of some ideas to combat the
virus, support businesses and reduce the impact on the economy.
A. Utilize hotels and motels to house vulnerable people who cannot
shelter at home safely in isolation. Have local restaurants deliver
meals. Using public funds to turn these facilities as needed into
care centers, quarantine facilities, and isolation places. There are
over 5 million hotel/motel rooms in the country and if we add in
college dormitories that adds an estimated 4.42 million rooms.* We
don’t need to house every at risk person, just those who are in at
risk situations.
B. The logistics of this are overwhelming – but we have a whole
segment of businesses dedicated to these kind of logistics – the
hospitality/tourism/convention industry. They regularly deal with
these kinds of tasks. This would require these things to be
controlled from a local level. Hence the funding for this should be
distributed through state governments.
C. Use the flagging restaurant industry to help feed these folks.
Food delivery problems – tour buses are sitting unused, drivers
could use the work.
Focusing on
isolating the vulnerable rather than everyone is the most important
thing. Not everyone needs a new location for isolation. In this way
we can focus our efforts on helping those who need it rather than
destroying the economy in order to spread out the amount of time we
are dealing with the virus(flatten the curve). I would expect
government funds would find much better use keeping business open and
people working in the hospitality industry than a blanket mailing of
checks.
3. If we keep the
vulnerable safe, those that are in the healthy segments of our
society can resume a somewhat normal level of activity. This will
boost businesses and enable people to get back to work. At the same
time we all will need to proceed through our lives with an abundance
of caution hand washing, some degree of social distancing, etc.
4. This will reduce
the long term impact both on our health and on our economy. Put
millions of people back to work, use existing private facilities to
serve the public good rather than sit vacant. Help people be money
earning, tax paying parts of the economy. Have businesses earning
money like they are intended rather than surviving on government loan
and bailout programs. Bolster public perception of these industries
as contributing to the overall public good as they are all the time.
This plan is very
preliminary but will utilize the private sector to help care for
people and move our economy forward. If you like this idea or have
a better one, please communicate it to your lawmakers and motivate
them to work together, work creatively, and work to preserve the
long-term health of our country both physically and economically.
Praying for our
country and our world,
Greg Wilson –
concerned citizen
Powell, Wyoming
*College hosing
calculation – 19.65 million** estimated students, 45% living on
campus or in purpose built housing*** = 8.84 million. Take into
account average of double occupancy and you have 4.42 million more
rooms.
