September 19, 2020 Issue, Page 4 of 8

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Page 4 The Elk City News, Elk City, Oklahoma Saturday, September 19, 2020 United approach needed in Opinion Page “ElkCituNews coronavirus response Serving Western Oklahoma since 1901 Biden won’t win By Zainab Saadi, Los An- spreading the infection.” izing at home. Her story em- not be a deciding factor in geles Times Here’s one chilling exam- phasizes why we need more any decision to test. votes by As a physician, I’m part ple of asymptomatic trans- coronavirus testing, not less. of a COVID-19 task force mission from my outreach Adm. Brett Giroir, the as- Many of my patients who sistant secretary for health that contacts coronavirus- across Southern California “feel well” were tested be- who spearheads the coro- threatening positive patients and clari- that I have been given per- cause ofa work requirement. navirus testing efforts for fies the next steps in their mission to share. A mother “Someone at work was the Trump administration, swing state jobs care. When I tell them their decided to have a small out- found to have COVID-19,” said the new recommen- test result is positive, many door gathering with her adult they will say, and “now we dations emphasize testing react with puzzlement, say- son who lived with her and all have to get tested.” Very “individuals (who may be ing they “feel fine.” two other guests who did not few could identify the CO- So I was more than dis- - another son and a friend. VID-19-positive individual asymptomatic) when priori- By PK Kaiser mayed when the Centers for The four people at the bar- who transmitted the virus to tized by public health offi- It sometimes seems as if former Vice President Joe Biden Disease Control and Preven- becue all felt well and masks them, let alone recall anyone cials.” What he is implying is hell bent on losing this November. tion appeared to succumb to were not worn. But within a at work who appeared to be is: “We're punting on giving political pressure to change few days, the mother gradu- sick. comprehensive testing guid- Biden’s clean energy plan calls for banning new oil and its COVID-19 guidelines ally had difficulty breathing When their test returns ance, and individual health gas permits on public lands and waters. While that position and discourage testing of and was soon hospitalized positive, they are shocked. professionals should figure it might appeal to environmentalists, it won’t win over the people who are asymptom- with COVID-19. But I am not. These pres- out on their own.” That may swing state voters who rely on America’s oil and natural atic. She had been limiting her ymptomatic or asymptom- sound innocent enough, but When the CDC recently outings, and the son who atic transmissions are old scattering the decision-mak- gas industry for affordable energy and good jobs. issued new guidelines that lived with her studied re- news at my clinic. Deciding ing among individual voices ‘The natural gas and oil industry supports more than 10 no longer recommend test- motely at home. She prob- against testing those who divides the movement for million high-paying jobs across the nation. Many of these ing people who feel fine ably got the virus from either “feel fine” is an easy way COVID control. Dividing jobs are located in swing states like Pennsylvania, Florida but have been in close con- the visiting son or her friend. to help the virus roar out of and splintering rarely results tact with someone who has The mother had kept her so- control, spreading uncaught in cohesive success. and Michigan, all of which Democrats lost in 2016. The COVID-19, the medical cial circle small, yet she was and out ofsight. industry supports more than 12 percent of jobs in Texas, community and_ politicians dead within two weeks of My clinical observations The solemn Hippocratic across the country sounded the barbecue. are supported by a large oath that physicians take another key state Democrats want to carry in 2020. an alarm. More than one ex- Her story - dying from a body of peer-reviewed, sci- says, “first, do no harm.” The industry is projected to support an additional 1.9 mil- pert said the guidelines had virus she picked up from entific literature. The now- This calls for a laser focus lion American jobs by 2035. Nearly 60 percent of those po- been revised for political, someone who was feeling famous Diamond Princess on a patient’s health and sci- sitions will go to blue-collar workers, a group that support- rather than scientific, rea- well - is far from unique. cruise ship’s COVID-19 ence, not politics. The sci- sons. On its website, the CDC outbreak from earlier this ence is clear. Asymptomatic ed President Trump in 2016. Pledging to destroy blue collar has a table that shows about year was a rare glimpse of spread of COVID-19 is ram- And New York Gov. jobs won’t help Democrats win back this demographic. Andrew Cuomo squarely 50% of COVID-19 infec- the virus in an enclosed area. pant. Nor would the fact that banning fossil fuels will raise blamed politics tions are spread by people Although the majority of because Identifying the innocent, Americans’ energy bills. Recent advancements in fracking the Trump administration who have no symptoms - so people initially felt fine, the hidden spreaders of this pre- doesn’t “want publicity that the political push to decrease virus rapidly spread, infect- ventable, deadly Russian allowed US. energy firms to access previously untapped there is a COVID problem.” testing naturally baffles phy- ing about 700 people on the roulette-like disease is criti- natural gas reserves. Thanks in part to this abundance of He pointed out that “if you sicians. ship. About 58% of those cal to controlling the spread energy, the cost of heating a home with natural gas fell 12 don’t test people for CO- COVID-19 is regularly with confirmed COVID-19 of COVID-19 - and requires VID, there are fewer cases” spread by people with- infections had zero symp- percent between 2005 and 2010. That’s more than $300 a a unified national public and called it a strategy of out symptoms, and catch- toms at the time of testing, year in savings. “denial.” ing these silent spreaders is according to a letter recent- health approach. Banning or limiting fracking would undo this progress. Cuomo’s criticism reso- critical to controlling CO- ly published in the science Zainab Saadi of Irvine, nated with many physicians VID-19. This mother’s story journal the New England Calif., is an internal medi- Eliminating fossil fuels from the power sector would cost who, like me, repeatedly in- should serve as a caution- Journal of Medicine. cine physician and a mem- the average American household $2,000 a year in added form patients that “yes, you ary tale to those who have Symptoms are not a reli- ber of a task force of health energy costs, according to one study. can look healthy, but still become complacent about able marker of infection or professionals who care for Contrary to what Democrats claim, this domestic energy have the coronavirus and be going out in public or social- infectivity - and they should COVID-19-positive patients. Congress must act to avoid boom has also done wonders for the environment. Thanks to the availability of cheap natural gas, energy firms have transitioned away from coal, which emits nearly twice as much carbon dioxide. Natural gas has done more to reduce carbon dioxide emissions than renewables since 2005, ac- a long recession cording to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. By Karl W. Smith, Bloom- ago, when the economy be- to 6.6% in August. Even employment rate will stall Today, U.S. emissions are nearing 30-year lows even as berg Opinion gan collapsing at a record worse, much of that dip may out and possibly reverse. global emissions have risen 50 percent. In sharp contrast to its pace. The original coronavi- be illusory, as the Bureau of The job market risks re- impressive performance tus outbreak in the Northeast Labor Statistics expanded its peating a slightly worse ver- Clearly, Democrats think that demonizing the oil and with the CARES Act, which has been largely contained, definition of “temporary” in sion of the dot-com crash natural gas industry is a winning strategy. The polls sug- was passed in less than two and the secondary wave that July. of the early aughts, when gest otherwise. weeks, Congress’s attempt passed through much of the This underlying weak- unemployment continued In 2016, two-thirds of voters said they were more likely at a second major pandemic rest of the nation was weaker ness hasn’t shown up in the to drift upward for nearly relief bill has been a roll- than feared. More decisive- spending numbers precisely two years after the recession to vote for a candidate who supports increasing the pro- ing disaster for nearly two ly, over the last few months because the CARES Act ended in November 2001. It duction of oil and natural gas. And less than half of swing months. To prevent a lasting the U.S. economy has been was so powerful. The large hit a peak of 6.3% in June voters in the “Blue Wall” - Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wis- recession from taking hold, bouncing back across a vari- unemployment insurance 2003. consin and Minnesota - support a fracking ban. Congress needs to find a ety of measures. supplement in the package This time around, there is Democrats failed to attract swing state voters in 2016, compromise. ‘Two of the three most vol- meant that millions of fur- unlikely to be a subprime- The bipartisan Problem atile sectors of the economy, loughed workers actually financed housing boom to and it cost them the election. Given Biden’s opposition to Solvers Caucus in the House business investment and saw their incomes rise. Not snap the economy out of its fossil fuels, they seem bound to repeat themselves in 2020. laid out just such a blueprint housing starts, have largely only were they slated to get malaise. It could be 2025 PK Kaiser is the Arapahoe County (Colorado) Assessor. on Tuesday. It’s not perfect. recovered. The third - con- their jobs back, but while before the underlying weak- Before being elected assessor, he served as a member of It won't satisfy Democrat sumer durable purchases, they were waiting to be re- ness in the job market is ad- the Colorado Democratic Party State Central & Executive ic demands for huge state such as appliances and au- called, they took home more dressed, and 2030 before the and local aid, or placate the tomobiles - has surged past money. Committees. The realtor and small business owner holds Republican desire to cut pre-pandemic levels. Unem- But disposable personal economy returns to anything a bachelor’s degree in agricultural economics, a master’s costs. It might, however, be ployment, meanwhile, has income, which hit a record close to full employment. enough to keep the economy fallen from a postwar record This slow-moving crisis degree in economics, an MBA in finance, and is working on in April, has been in decline. growing through the end of of nearly 15% in April to just It will continue to fall as isn’t as emotionally salient his Ph.D in Economics. as the one the U.S. economy the year and give the U.S. a more than 8% in August. more employees come back shot at avoiding another de- Nonetheless, the recovery to work and their earnings faced in March, but it is no Have a letter to cade of labor-market pain. is still fragile and the poten- are not supplemented by the less real. To avoid it, Con- Still, passage is a long tial for additional surges re- government. gress will have to work to- the editor shot - if the bill ever made it mains. Most of the improve- At that point, the weak- gether again - and soon. out of the House, it’s almost ment in the unemployment ness in the labor market is Karl W. Smith, a former to share? certain the bill would die rate was furloughed workers likely to translate into a re- assistant professor of eco- in the Senate, If Congress returning to work, The so- newed decline in spending. nomics at the University of does nothing, how might the called full-recall employ- That decline in spending North Carolina and founder Send your letter to economy respond? ment rate - the percentage will, in tum, weaken com- of the blog Modeled Behav- the editor to It’s worth noting that the of workers whose job loss is panies’ demand for workers. ior, is vice president for fed- [email protected] situation now is much dif- permanent - has fallen only As a result, the current slow eral policy at the Tax Foun- ferent than it was six months slightly, from 7.6% in April decline in the full-recall un- dation.