Thumbs up, thumbs down
Thumbs up to the many nonprofits and volunteers who kept the spirit of Thanksgiving going in these challenging times by finding ways to safely provide holiday meals to those who otherwise might go hungry. The need is all the greater, as long lines for food attest, as the pandemic affects employment for large parts of the population. As we enter December, please contribute, if you can, to local food pantries and charities in this giving season.
Thumbs up to Connecticut preparing to protect nursing home residents by opening a fourth COVID-19 recovery center this month to better quarantine those infected and to slow outbreaks. In the early months of the pandemic nursing home residents were particularly vulnerable to the spread of the virus and represented the greatest percentage of deaths. A total of 334 beds are available at the four facilities in nursing homes in Wallingford, Meriden, East Hartford and soon in Torrington. Though the COVID Recovery Facilities program is voluntary, it could help contain outbreaks and presumably provide more specialized care.
Thumbs down to the millions in bonuses awarded last week to Purdue Pharma executives, even while the company admitted in criminal court its role in the opioid epidemic. Though the sevenfigure bonuses awarded by a bankruptcy judge are legal and less than requested — for example, CEO Craig Landau will receive a performance bonus of about $2.93 million on top of his $2.6 million base salary — it leaves a bad taste for these executives to reap rewards while so many have died from opioid overdoses. Last Tuesday the Stamford-based maker of OxyContin acknowledged in federal court that it had hindered the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration’s efforts to combat the addiction crisis and induced doctors, through speaker fees, to write more painkiller prescriptions. The guilty pleas were part of a $8.3 billion settlement with the U.S. Justice Department. Connecticut is among the states suing Purdue Pharma over the opioid crisis.
Thumbs up to the state Department of Economic and Community Development opening up small business grants to those struggling in the pandemic. The $5,000 each isn’t much, but could mean the difference of staying in business a few more months or closing. Targeting the “smallest of the small,” as Deputy DECD Commissioner Glendowlyn Thames put it, the program attracted about 18,000 requests, but funds are available for only 10,000 grants. The state should release more of the federal pandemic aid so all eligible small businesses can be helped.