We should vaccinate inmates. Go ahead and scream. But here’s why ...
Today’s puzzle solutions can be found on the TV page.
Today I want to talk about a wildly unpopular idea — vaccinating inmates. I know this proposal will trigger a lot of people. So let’s go ahead and get the screaming out of the way.
YOU THINK A CAREER CRIMINAL IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN MY MEEMAW??
YOU MUST HAVE ROCKS IN YOUR SKULL WHERE A BRAIN SHOULD GO!
Feel better? Now, with gut reactions out of the way, let’s talk about why health experts say this is smart public policy.
Because inmates may be America’s most Covid-vulnerable population; crammed together and getting infected at much higher-than-average rates.
And when they get sick, you have to pay for it. You pay a lot. COVID treatments can cost tens of thousands of dollars per patient.
Also, the viruses spread in prisons don’t stay there. They infect and kill corrections workers. They also infect others, all of whom can end up filling hospital beds … the ones your Mee-maw might need.
This isn’t about sympathy for convicted criminals. It’s about sympathy for taxpayers’ wallets. And about wanting to stop the spread where 40 of the 50 largest clustered outbreaks in America have happened — in jails and prisons . ...
See, my mama raised a pragmatist. She once emailed my brother, sister and me the day before our annual family beach week to say: “Hi everyone. Just in case your father and I get killed in a car crash on the way to the beach, we wanted to let you know we updated our will. See you Saturday!”
Sure, it was a bit jarring. But Mom always put pragmatism over emotions. And pragmatism says we should vaccinate vulnerable populations.
Late last year, the National Council on Criminal Justice issued a report led by two former attorneys general — Republican Alberto Gonzales and Democrat Loretta Lynch — that called for early vaccinations of people incarcerated and working in prisons. “The rate of infection is so high and they have no way to deal with it,” Gonzales told the Washington Post. “They desperately need it.”
The American Medical Association recommended the same thing. The Lancet medical journal issued a “call for urgent action.”
In Florida, however, Gov. Ron Desantis has scoffed at the medical experts’ advice. “There’s no way you’re going to get some prisoner a vaccine over a senior citizen,” he said last month.
I get that it’s easy to score political points by comparing criminals to Gam-gam. But try thinking beyond the sound bite.
“Let’s talk about the economics,” said Desmond Meade, the leader of the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition who was also a member of the national justice council. “Let’s talk about the beds, because these people don’t stay in prison to get treated. Many end up filling hospital beds. Let’s talk about staff, who don’t stay in prisons if they get infected. They go home to their families and into our communities.” And keep in mind: In local jails, many inmates haven’t even been convicted. They’re simply awaiting trial.
Minnesota started vaccinating its medically vulnerable inmates in January. Leaders there didn’t care if some people threw tantrums. About 3,500 inmates had already contracted COVID. Nine had died. And it was costing taxpayers gobs to deal with the medical costs.
Dr. Homer Venters, a public health professor at New York University, said the costs go beyond medical treatment, noting correctional staff often must be alongside critically ill inmates “around the clock, often on overtime.” He also cited the expense of transporting inmates to hospitals and the sick time paid to correctional staffers who contract the virus.
So the economic reasons are clear. Unfortunately,
in politics, emotions often rule.
That’s what happened in Colorado where state health officials attempted to make vaccinating inmates a priority until a politically ambitious prosecutor penned a column for the Denver Post where he pitched a fit over giving “the life-saving vaccine to a person who puts a loaded gun to grandma’s head, before he would give it to grandma.”
It was red meat that prompted Colorado to back off its plan.
Meanwhile, about a dozen states — a mix of red and blue, from Nebraska to Maryland — have tuned out the political pandering and made inmates some kind of priority.
Every state should do so. Not because anyone has a soft spot for convicted criminals, but because it makes everyone safer and saves everyone money.
Do I like the thought of some drug dealer or carjacker getting his vaccine before my family members? Of course not. But I try to think about more than just myself. And beyond the emotions.
Most important, I try to listen to the medical experts, which is what we should’ve been doing all along.
Groups of 10 people will be taken through the garden by guides.
UPCOMING
The Rome Chapter of The Compassionate Friends
Thursday,
March 11,
Hospitality House Thrift Store Ladies Boutique,
610 Shorter Ave., is having their semiannual blowout sale through Saturday, March 13. Store hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesdayfriday and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday. Masks required. Proceeds benefit programs for abused women and their children.
Greater Mount Calvary Baptist Church, 445 E. 14th St., will celebrate Rev.
Terrell M. Shields’ 37th Pastoral Anniversary
Sunday,
at 12:30 p.m. on
March 14, with a drivethru appreciation service. Enter on East 14th Street, exit on Flannery Street. All are welcome. CDC health guidelines will be followed.
The League of Women Voters of Georgia will hold a free Virtual Legislation Day from 6 to 8:30 p.m. Monday, March 15, with an update on state voting legislation and information on how to lobby lawmakers. Register at lwvga.org.
The Floyd County Republican Party will hold its Mass Precinct meeting Saturday, March 20 at 10 a.m. at the Charles Parker Senior Center, 1325 Kingston Highway. They will be electing delegates and alternates to the Floyd County Republican Party County Convention which will be held on April 17 at 10 a.m. at the Charles Parker Senior Center. All Floyd County registered voters who concur with the principles of the Republican Party are invited to attend.
Starting April 11, NAMI
8-session course on ways to help friends and family members who are living with a mental illness. Family-to-family meets 2.5 hours weekly on Sunday afternoons from 1:30-4 p.m. in Rome. The class size will be limited to follow CDC guidelines. For more information and registration call Bonnie at 706-506-8314.
Rome is offering an
The Junior Service League of Rome will hold its biennial Garden Tour from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, April 24. Tickets are $25 for the regular tour, $50 for the “taste and tour,” and are available at Chieftains Museum, 501 Riverside Parkway. For more information visit jslofrome.com.
ACROSS 1 Jalopy
5 Crow’s call 8 Stoic
philosopher 12 Film director
— Kazan 13 Have a
mortgage 14 Like some fans 15 Dry riverbed 16 Coal seam 17 Cleave 18 Lowest ebb 20 Tibet’s capital 22 401(k) cousin 23 Dolt
24 Long, flat
timber 27 Groupie
welcome 30 Cleveland
hoopster 31 Mini-guitar 32 Network 34 No-seats sign 35 Previously 37 — -tzu (“Tao”
author) 38 Round Table
member 40 Scrumptious 42 Oater star —
Rogers 43 Lightning byproduct 44 Perch 46 Outspoken 49 Swiss capital 50 Med. plan 52 Tones 54 Lounge around 55 Debussy
subject 56 Comics pooch 57 Marched along 58 Furtive 59 Widespread
1 2 3
4
5
6 7 8 9
DOWN Wield an ax Zest for life Opera set in Egypt Contributed (2 wds.) Venomous snake
Astonish Marriage
Wine server Rosary prayers 10 Singer —
Turner
11 Out of the
ordinary 19 Rub the wrong
way
21 Mad Hatter
guest 24 Laptops 25 Songbird 26 Bard’s
river
27 Bird feeder
treat
28 Leather
punches
29 Nut center 33 Lad 35 Conscious
beings
36 Beats
39 Put a crease in 40 Also 41 Popeye’s tattoo 43 Walrus tusk 44 Emulate a
bronco 45 Ricelike pasta 47 Imported car 48 Eric the Red’s
son
49 Quick lunch 51 Torme or
Brooks 53 Catch a
glimpse of