“Have We Given Up?”
“Despite no response from Mayors Scott Conger and Jimmy Harris, I am once again calling for community leaders to work together to devise strategies that will help prevent people from dying of COVID-19,” Dr. Jimmy Hoppers said, “It’s a request I’ve made of the Madison County Coronavirus Task Force every day for nearly two weeks.”
Hoppers, CEO of Physicians Quality Care, has issued another statement today about the lack of leadership and complacency concerning the virus.
This is his statement.
Have We Given Up?
Covid-19 fatigue is real. We experience it every day when our kids study at the computer instead of heading off to school. We feel it when we don a mask at the grocery store and when we think twice about greeting old friends with a handshake or hug. We seldom say it aloud but down deep we wonder if things will ever get better. Positive tests continue to rise and we worry it might not be long before government forces my business to close and once again restricts the right of we the people to peacefully assemble.
In every other aspect of life, when something is tried over and over and it continually fails, we move on to other options. Covid-19 has been the singular exception. We seem accepting of our fate, resigned to be victims instead of tackling the problem head on. Should we blindly embrace every new idea that comes along? Of course not, but conversely, we should be careful not to dismiss every new suggestion simply because it doesn’t fit our political narrative.
We can no more stop this virus than we can prevent the tide from coming in; we can only mitigate its effects. Our first priority has to be protecting those at highest risk: the elderly and those with chronic medical problems. It’s our parents and grandparents, our elderly neighbors and those with significant medical issues who are filling our intensive care units and whose deaths we repeatedly mourn.
This is not a partisan issue. It is not a political game. Government neither created this pandemic nor has the ability to end it. We can continue to wear masks, we can continue to social distance, we can continue to contact trace, but regardless of what we do, the numbers are still going to rise. It’s the nature of the beast.
We have no choice but to come together, government and the private sector, to devise a strategy to protect our friends, our family, our neighbors, those who through no fault of their own find themselves in greatest danger. The people of Jackson and Madison County have always risen to the challenge. Now is not the time to consider ourselves helpless victims. It’s time to do something.
Fortune favors the bold.
