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Open letter to Dr. Penny Borenstein: Let’s be safe and productive 

Letter to the editor paso robles daily news

An open letter to Dr. Penny Borenstein – SLO County Health Department:

–We have been in been in lockdown since the 18th of March on your order, and the very next day the Governor followed suit with his order. I am not criticizing your or the governor’s order, from the early data it looks like we’ve truly flattened the curve. Let’s hope this turns out to be true.

However, while we are working hard to solve a viral contagion, we’ve created an economic contagion. As far as I can see; no one is working the economic contagion. The economic curve is in a downward spiral, and accelerating. This economic contagion is, if not the most, one of the most severe in history. It is not just restaurants, movie theaters, and the like that have been infected, City and County government have seen their incomes plunge within days. Almost every business is in full reactionary mode.

Not many would have guessed, but even hospitals and urgent care facilities are feeling the economic contagion now. I have contacted emergency room doctors locally and in southern California. I have talked to one public relations person for two hospitals, he said the same is happening all over California. Hospital patient loads are down as much as 75-percent. The ER doctors have taken substantial pay cuts and reductions in hours. To quote one ER department head: “Our ER volume is down 66-percent and hospital volume down 50-percent. I have cut around 45-percent of our ER staffing (reducing people’s income by almost half). We are seeing fewer COVIDs coming in. I think things are slowing.”

I’m sure this economic problem for hospitals was an unforeseen outcome, surely we were all thinking that hospitals and ERs would be overflowing with patients right now.

The economic contagion is continuing through our community now. It’s not too early to be working on the recovery. Can we pull health professionals, business leaders, and government leaders together for some planning? It’s hard to believe we can’t design mitigation measures that both minimize the COVID-19 spread, and allows businesses to operate – not operate as usual pre-COVID, but with some reasonable precautions.

We, of course, need to consider the most vulnerable at risk among us, and large tight crowds most likely will have to wait. But for a simple example, isn’t it possible that a hairdresser/barber and the client both wear masks and wash hands before and after the appointment? Can stores limit the number of customers at one time, and require both employees and customers to wear masks? We need to think of ways we CAN work together, not just dismiss the idea and say we can’t.

This community can start the wave of safe productivity. Let’s be an example of how to do two things at once, be safe and productive. Please contact me if you’d like to work with me to accomplish this goal, let’s assemble a team and attack this economic contagion. It has to start somewhere, why not San Luis Obispo County?

Keith Belmont,
Paso Robles

 


Editor’s note: Letters to the editor are personal opinions and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Paso Robles Daily News or its staff. We welcome letters from local residents regarding relevant local topics. To submit one, click here. 

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The news staff of the Paso Robles Daily News wrote or edited this story from local contributors and press releases. The news staff can be reached at info@pasoroblesdailynews.com.