As a Duke Hospital ER nurse, I urge Gov. Cooper to reinstate NC’s stay-at-home order

Reinstate lockdown

I am writing to urge the governor to reinstate stay-at-home orders.

I’m a nurse in Duke Hospital’s Emergency Department and we are seeing COVID-19 do anything but “fade away,” as President Trump asserted. Since we cannot rely on national leadership for guidance, we need to take matters into our own hands and enact more robust measures to protect North Carolinians.

COVID has been contained in Taiwan, New Zealand, the UAE. What they have in common is prompt and aggressive action.

The U.S. has two choices: Continue to reduce restrictions and break daily case records, or lock down until we see a consistent decrease in our state’s rate of infection. Getting COVID under control before flu season is imperative.

You know how to show support for health care workers? Not donuts, not pizza parties, not yard signs calling us “heroes.” Please, just stay home.

Audrey Boyles, Durham

Reopen schools

I am a high school English/Speech and Debate teacher, as well as a parent of two teenagers, and I strongly support the return to in-class instruction even though I am at the greatest virus risk.

The mental and social health of America’s youth is equally at risk. In a world where too many adolescents and teens already spend untold, often unmonitored, hours behind the smartphones screens, the school system provides the last vestiges of genuine social engagement, modeling and other behavioral platforms essential for healthy character development.

At what point are we as a society going to acknowledge that the cure for COVID-19 may well be worse than the illness, especially for America’s youth? I encourage schools to reopen as normally as possible, providing precautions (most of which are “security theater,” save for the use of face masks) while allowing America’s youth the educational and social means they need to grow as responsible citizens for our nation’s future.

Jill Jackl, Pittsboro

School funding

America cannot get back to work or live normal lives until children are back in school. However, N.C. schools are not properly funded, even prior to the pandemic. Now facing even more dire deficits due to lack of tax revenue, schools are not in a position to reopen safely, regardless of recommendations.

Additionally, our schools will need to make significant operational and structural changes to make them safe for children.

As the parent of an elementary school child, I’m asking Rep. George Holding and Sens. Richard Burr and Thom Tillis to help provide financial support for N.C. schools to safely reopen. Our children are suffering without schools, and parents need children back in school to be productive. Our schools need the resources to protect our kids and they need the federal government to help provide those resources.

Jeff Hayes, Apex

Waiting on Trump

How much additional time and how many additional illnesses, hospitalizations and deaths will it take before President Trump realizes and shares the following vital information with his constituents?

▪ A global pandemic has no nationality.

▪ A novel coronavirus cannot be bullied into submission.

▪ Learning from others is not a sign of weakness.

▪ A national emergency requires a cooperative, coordinated national response.

Our wait has already been too long.

Jinny Batterson, Cary

NC monuments

The 146 Confederate monuments still standing throughout North Carolina are not honoring our heritage or remembering history. Rather, these monuments are romanticizing oppression, violence, and white supremacy.

In an effort to permanently remove these monuments, our group of over 30 students and others fighting for social justice are calling for a vote on House Bill 10, a repeal of the 2015 state law that protects monuments.

We are choosing to use our voices to call for an end to the inaction on the issue of Confederate monuments. We need the public to use its voice as well. Demand that Republicans bring HB10 up for a vote. We cannot have justice if we’re still displaying hateful, harmful monuments across our state.

Lily Kane, Broughton High School

Owen Von Weihe, Raleigh Charter High School

Azaria Anderson, Research Triangle High School

Minnah Gaballah, Leesville Road High School

Willow Grossmann, Broughton High

Forest and masks

Since Lt. Governor Dan Forest has said masks don’t work, I have a few questions: Is he an epidemiologist — no, he is not. Is he a virologist — no, he is not. Is he a communicable disease expert — no, he is not. Therefore, I will continue to listen to the public health professionals and follow their advice.

Partha Howell, Beaufort

This story was originally published July 14, 2020 at 11:44 AM.