Letters to the editor: Reopening plan, protesters, Boise State
Reopening plan
Gov. Little’s plan to restart Idaho’s economy is notable for its lack of input from Idaho’s doctors. No doctors’ names appear on the website about the details of his plan and no doctor or hospital was a member of Little’s advisory committee. This is because no doctor would endorse a plan so lacking in medical intelligence.
Little’s plan fails to recognize the two fundamental medical challenges in managing the pandemic. First, the timetable of his plan to advance the opening of businesses every two weeks fails to recognize that the incubation period of the virus is up to two weeks. Second, there is no plan for widespread testing. Every doctor knows that widespread routine testing is the only way to assess the success or failure of virus containment efforts. Without testing we cannot actually measure the spread of this virus. Without testing, we can only track the number of unused ventilators in Idaho.
My elderly mother can hardly wait to return to church, which is phase 1 of Little’s plan. She may be surrounded by asymptomatic infected parishioners. She may die without family by her side on a ventilator in an Idaho hospital.
Mark Heitner, MD, Burlingame, California
Protesters
I am a conservative politically, and as such believe in personal and civil rights very strongly. I also resent any restrictions on those rights. That said, I must say that these people that are protesting, gathering in large crowds, not wearing masks and not practicing social separation are NUTS! If they have no regard for their own health and well being so be it, that is their right! When they start impacting my health and the health of my family they do NOT have that right. If they want to chance infecting themselves and their families that’s their problem! If they or their’s get ill that again is their problem! I wouldn’t feel sorry for them but I would feel sorry for the innocent people, trying to do the right thing that they infect! I suggest you all protest and gather all you want but then stay away from the rest of us! I don’t want to sacrifice my health because of ignorant people! I applaud you Governor Little and Mayor Mclean for having the backbone for not backing down! I am glad to see that there are still some rational people!
John Treharne, Boise
Boise State
There are rumblings on Boise State’s campus that the university president, Dr. Marlene Tromp, is considering closing campus for the fall semester. Dr. Tromp is still in her first year at the university’s helm, so I understand her careful approach to the pandemic, but I fear that she will let the BSU community drift until there is a critical mass of universities across the nation that have announced their fall semester plans.
This type of leadership-from-behind betrays the students and staff who depend on Boise State, and while it may be the safest option it is certainly still fraught with risk. Boise State depends on its on-campus amenities to attract quality students and faculty; without a vision for resuming on-campus instruction I fear that BSU will enter a death spiral of falling enrollment and slashed budgets that destroy so much of what we love about the university.
Dr. Tromp should launch her second year as president with a vision of an open-for-business Boise State, and with that vision she should launch a fundraising campaign to help pay for whatever new technologies or temporary staff are needed to ensure that Boise State thrives throughout this crisis.
Colten Elkin, Boise