Another shutdown?

In his Sunday column, Victor Joecks writes that

Gov. Steve Sisolak should not shut down Nevada again. I agree with the premise, but not the reality.

What Mr. Joecks fails to realize is that, with COVID cases skyrocketing in the state, more and more people are not going to venture out and spend money unless it’s absolutely necessary. This leads to more businesses cutting staff and possibly shutting down, which then leads to more unemployment and desperate situations for local residents. You cannot have a healthy economy unless the pandemic is addressed first.

Gov. Sisolak did the right thing back in March to shut down Nevada. The problem was a lack of federal leadership and support in coordinating the quarantine, testing, tracing and medical equipment during that time in all 50 states. That failure falls squarely on the Trump administration, which continues to sit by as more than half the country, including Nevada, is on fire with infections.

The only way to truly revive the economy is to completely flatten the virus and to ask for state and federal assistance in continuing to help vulnerable citizens stay afloat financially until the threat is extremely low and the economy is actually back on its feet. Blindly encouraging business as usual is leading to a vicious circle of infections and the inability to stop the spread, which is leading to tragic deaths and a sense of fear and panic among consumers and businesses alike.

If Nevada needs to shut down again, this time in coordination with an emergency federal mandate for the entire country to do the same, then it should be done. tells you to take two aspirin to calm your headache, what do you do? Do you get a sign and stand on the corner screaming “No aspirin. No aspirin. Don’t take aspirin”? Standing on the street yelling about masks is just as stupid.

Wearing a mask helps to prevent you from picking up the virus or from giving it to someone else, if you have it.

This is not a political issue. It represents only common sense. Therefore, standing in the street protesting scientific, medical advice does nothing but represent profound stupidity. word “race” as applied to humans has acquired a toxic connotation. Factually, the visible differences among humans are cosmetic. These outward differences may have had some evolutionary value with respect to locations, temperatures, humidity and elevations in ages past. Currently, however, there is no known advantage biologically or genetically for having a certain pigment, hair color, eye shape or other outward physical configurations.

Perhaps it is time to stop using the word “race” with reference to humans and substitute some other word, such as “style.” When people are asked to indicate on surveys what race they are, it may be better to ask what is their “style.” operational plan to minimize the negative effect that the coronavirus may cause on the operational readiness of the command.

I do have some earned military experience, as I retired from the Navy with the rank of captain. I joined the Navy in 1953 and went immediately into their flight training program. I served as a fighter/attack pilot for 29 years. I served as commanding officer of two of the largest aviation squadrons in the Navy.

Now I’m just like any other retired military man who is proud as hell to tell young hard-charging men and women what to expect when they join the service. Years ago, when I was getting ready to retire, I received a briefing on what to expect as a retired military person. The money you receive after you leave active duty was called “retainer pay,” not retirement pay. That is probably what bred the life into the system whereby military retirees now have the right (within reason) to certain facilities on active duty bases.

I realize that I don’t have the right to be critical of the decision by the people who came to the banishment action. But I can point out the current vernacular, which proudly states that the U.S. military, when in stressful situations, never leaves one of its own behind.