Front-line health care workers like me deserve hazard pay during this pandemic

Health care workers

Front-line health care workers deserve hazard pay during this pandemic. Health systems like Duke, UNC, WakeMed, as well as local, state and federal employers of first responders and other front-line workers should immediately provide hazard pay of 50 percent on top of base hourly wages and offer a minimum of $1 million in life insurance to any worker who dies due to COVID-19.

Emergency health care workers, first responders, and hospital environmental staff cannot “stay home” or telework. Many of us now face overtime mandates while scrambling to cover new childcare costs during indefinite school closings. We also lack basic personal protective equipment on the job, which risks our lives and impacts spread.

Take care of the ones who care for us all.

Libby Manly, Durham

Registered emergency room nurse

Trump’s doing fine

It is impossible for one Donald Trump to micromanage all health activities of the American people, yet that’s what I believe the media is leading the public to believe he should do. His inability to perform such an impossible task means he is incapable to be president, according to some.

The United States has 50 governors with 50 health departments to help fight a pandemic and has school boards to see to the welfare of our schools. Vice President Mike Pence, along with his helpers, is doing a great job of coordinating everything, but gets no recognition from the media.

William Taylor, Wendell

A failed president

There is good reason why a businessman may not have the qualifications necessary for the presidency. A businessman’s primary motivation is profit, whereas the president is charged with the general welfare of the people.

The current occupant of the White House has had six bankruptcies. Not only was he a failed businessman, he has become a failed president. Instead of draining the swamp as promised, he has surrounded himself with unqualified loyalists. When appointed to positions of leadership these “yes men” have proven themselves inept. Only knowledgeable, competent professionals will ensure the strong foundation necessary for better agencies and services.

Dave Maupin, Taylorsville

Health costs

It’s reassuring that the government has insured that coronavirus testing will be free. But what about those who test positive and need hospitalization? We have nearly 500,000 in North Carolina who have no insurance, Medicare or Medicaid. Even those with insurance can be bankrupted by a long hospitalization. It’s time for N.C. government to step up to the challenge.

Robert Brown, Cary

High school students

As the virus continues to spread society has sidelined teenagers, asking us to remain indoors. Instead of twiddling our thumbs for at least the next two weeks, many students could actively participate in data analysis, public health research, or school board discussions to keep us busy and help the general welfare.

Opportunities for students in the lab, doing data analysis, or with reporters learning how to communicate with the public would give us the knowledge and experience we need to be the leaders of tomorrow. So, to all the adults who tell us to get off social media, I ask you to give us the opportunity to put down our phones. Give us something to do. If we are the future, let us help shape that future starting today.

Rahqi Sarsour, Cary

Election 2020

How many lives could be saved and nurtured if we elect leaders who support universal health care, environmental protection, green energy, pollution control, gun regulation, funding for research, diplomacy rather than war, social and economic justice, treatment for addiction and mental illness, affordable housing, expanded funding for public education and job training? When we vote, we need to consider the big picture, not just one or two wedge issues used by politicians to gain power and wield it to the detriment of humanity.

Jean Jones Wilson, Durham

Renewable energy

Thank you for Ned Barnett’s excellent March 16 column about the Atlantic Coast Pipeline and the call to shift to renewables. We need to shift rapidly away from all fossil fuels to renewables which are safer, cheaper and create more jobs. This should be a no-brainer, but powerful economic forces are behind the ACP and other gas projects, notably Duke Energy and Dominion.

We have certainly suffered from more intense storms, heat waves and droughts in the past several years. Going forward we face sea-level rise that threatens the coast. There is only one rational way to address this. Treat it as the ongoing emergency that it is and insist on an immediate shift to 100% renewable energy.

Betsy Bickel, Durham

This story was originally published March 17, 2020 at 12:48 PM.