Quicker test results needed
Gov. Kevin Stitt found out in a hurry that he was positive for COVID-19 — he got tested Tuesday and learned the results a short time later. As governor, such expediency comes with the territory.
Many everyday Oklahomans, however, are not so fortunate, and at some point that needs to change. It isn't unusual to wait a week or longer for test results. For example, the Oklahoma City-County Health Department is telling patients to expect results in five to seven business days.
If a test comes back negative, great. But what if it's positive?
In theory, a person could feel under the weather at midweek, get a Friday appointment for a test, then not learn the results until the Monday 10 days later. By that time, roughly two weeks have passed since symptoms began. The person may no longer have COVID-19.
Yet those who test positive are expected to self-quarantine for two weeks.
Some employers require two negative tests before allowing someone back to work. The lag between test and test result could cost someone about a month of work, if they can't telecommute and can't afford rapid testing offered by private labs.
Health Commissioner Lance Frye says he is “well aware” of concerns about long waits for results, “and we are talking about it on a daily basis.” What's needed is more action to shrink these excessive wait times.
Helping teens kick the habit
The state's Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust is highlighting a new program aimed at helping 13- to 17-year-olds quit tobacco in any form. The program is called “My Life, My Quit” and offers support through text-messaging, web chats or over the phone. Vaping is a particular target. TSET notes that one in six high school students uses e-cigarettes, and the U.S. surgeon general has declared youth vaping an epidemic. Nationally, one in four high schoolers reported using tobacco in the past month. “Research shows that the teen quit experience is very different from the adult experience,” says Julie Bisbee, TSET executive director. “My Life, My Quit will meet Oklahoma teens on their level and communicate with them via channels in which they are comfortable.” Additional information is available at www.mylifemyquit.com.
A name change that was long overdue
The National Football League's franchise in Washington will no longer be called the “Redskins,” an example that money talks. The name had been criticized for decades as demeaning to American Indians. However, it wasn't until a few weeks ago, after major sponsors of the team all spoke out against the name, that owner Dan Snyder started a review that resulted in Monday's announcement of a change. The first sponsor to demand a change was FedEx, whose CEO, Frederick W. Smith, owns part of the team. His company paid $205 million for naming rights to the team's stadium. Other angry sponsors were Pepsi, Bank of America and Nike. The change will take some getting used to for sports fans, but the name needed to go.
Blame New York's gun violence on … hunger?
Murders in New York City have increased by 27% over the first half of 2019; more than 300 people have been shot in the past month alone. The cause? Hunger, according to U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y. “Maybe this has to do with the fact that people aren't paying their rent,” AOC said, “and are scared to pay their rent so they go out and they need to feed their child and they don't have money so maybe you have to … they are put in a position where they feel they either need to shoplift some bread or go hungry that night.” Except, as City Journal's Seth Barron notes, petty larceny, robbery and grand larceny are all down compared with 2019. A baby killed last weekend “was shot by a group of men who pulled up in a SUV, jumped out and started firing at the group of people assembled for a cookout,” he wrote. Those and other shootings “are acts of revenge or score-settling, not economic crimes of opportunity.”