UNC must do more to create a safe work environment for staff and students amid COVID

UNC employees

I am chairman of the State Employees Association of North Carolina, District 25. The majority of members in our district are UNC Chapel Hill employees and retirees. I am speaking out about the lack of urgency from the UNC System to create a safe work environment for staff and students.

We have one of the greatest hospitals in the world on campus and UNC has not implemented mandatory testing for all faculty, staff and students before returning to campus. If the University of Kentucky can test over 30,000 students before they return to campus, UNC Chapel Hill can do the same.

We also need more up-to-date equipment to clean and sanitize the university. Face shields should be issued to facilities employees, along with the masks they’re receiving. The university is not adequately staffed to clean this large a facility as frequently as required.

James Holman, Hillsborough

Reopening schools

Many U.S. citizens decry the massive spread of COVID-19 as a result of a paltry federal response. Critical decisions, such as establishing public health measures and foraging for PPE, have been left up to 50 governors, with wildly divergent success. Now, with schools reopening, which impacts our children, our country’s most treasured resource, decisions and strategies are being shunted onto 13,171 local school boards nationwide! Good luck with that. Amazing.

Sally Eckert, Henrico

I’m with Trump

Regarding “Senate inaction,” (Aug. 9 Forum):

I agree that the two sides have not come up with a solution. But the Republican side offered several temporary solutions until a permanent one could be found. Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer rejected them all because they did not include billions to bail out the cities that have allowed riots, looting, and assaults on citizens and police. The irresponsible mayors of these cities need to find their own resources to rebuild their cities. Thankfully, the president did something to help the American people and not bail out these dysfunctional cities.

Buddy Holeman, Wake Forest

COVID relief

President Trump wantonly puts both Social Security and Medicare in peril in a desperate and dubious robbing-Peter-to-pay-Peter ploy. His aim is to keep the economy from cratering on his inept watch because his Republican co-conspirators in the Senate are unwilling and unable to produce the sort of comprehensive and responsible legislation embodied in the HEROES Act, passed by the Democratically-led House.

The president and his party in Congress, including our own Sens. Richard Burr and Thom Tillis, can scarcely pretend to care about the fate of the American people, or, indeed, the future of the country. The cynicism of it all is breathtaking.

Mitchell Moore, Durham

All lives matter

Regarding “Back the Blue NC gathers in Raleigh to support police,” (Aug. 10):

It’s unfortunate that we are drawing partisan lines between what is fundamentally a humanitarian crisis. The Black Lives Matter movement shouldn’t be viewed as advancing one life over another. Likewise, the Blue Lives Matter movement shouldn’t be viewed as protecting police at the expense of black lives. Both movements want the same thing: to live in a safe and flourishing community.

There is no need to draw lines and consider each other as political enemies. Civil rights leader Pauli Murray wrote, “When my brothers try to draw a circle to exclude me, I shall draw a larger circle to include them.” It’s important we remember her words as they illustrate how we are all, ultimately, a part of the same circle — a bigger circle that includes both Black Lives Matter and Blue Lives Matter.

Joshua Peters, Cary

Protesters

In the Aug. 10 photograph of the crowd supporting the police almost no one is wearing a mask or observing social distancing. I suggest that the next rally be set for 14 days from now at the emergency room of their choice.

Charlie Bruce, Southport

Nursing homes

Although DHHS Secretary Mandy Cohen is articulate in describing statistical trends, it’s disappointing that she doesn’t mention the heartbreak N.C coronavirus guidelines are creating for nursing home residents and their families.

No visitors for five months has increased death and disability in the vulnerable people Cohen says she is protecting. Most family members are not as afraid their loved one will die as they are that their loved one will be alone in their last days.

Several states have authorized one person as an “essential caregiver” who is allowed to visit while abiding by the same safety practices as staff. Why not have essential caregivers for North Carolina?

Pat Weaver, Clemmons