Medical professionals counter coronavirus lockdown protesters

guest1146168 · Apr 26, 2020

14 hours ago, Tenebrae said:
I forget which state it was, but the protestors were litterally blocking access to the local hospital.
Freedom of speech is one thing but seriously when that freedom of speech jepordises other peoples welfare and functioning of an essential service people need to take a look at how they are protesting and realise their free speech does not give them the right to be a dick

This. Exactly. The first amendment is the right to assemble *peacefully* in public places. There have always been limits on this, implied as in PUBLIC places (you don't get to block hospitals), PEACEFUL (as in leave your hunting rifle at home) As they say, you can't yell FIRE! in a crowded theatre.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. If it's not a political stunt, and they want to get back to work in so much as they're willing to be out in crowds, then dilly on out to any of the thousands of open positions for essential workers ranging from big box stores, pharma and groceries, to LTC facilities. Problem solved, right?

kbrn2002, ADN, RN · Apr 26, 2020

Don't take my complaints about the way this has been handled by both sides of the aisle as agreement with the protester's tactics because it's not. Blocking access to medical care by physically blocking access to the hospital sure isn't helping their cause.

That being said I can sympathize with the plight many of those people find themselves in. Stimulus money that is nowhere near enough to really help, heck in many parts of the country $1200 per qualified adult and $500 for dependent children doesn't even come close to a months rent not to mention the rest of the bills that still need to be paid. Plus there's been so many problems with dispersing that money. Way too many people are still waiting and might be waiting for quite a long time.

Countless small business owners applied for loans only to find out the money was gone. Not only gone but a big percentage of it gone to large, publicly traded companies instead of to the small businesses the program was designed to help.

The $600/week bump of tax free unemployment money to those that were actually able to successfully file is nice. In some cases too nice as that extra money is leaving more than a few workers better off than they were when working full time. This is also biting some of those small business owners that were able to get a loan in the rear. To avoid having to pay that money back they need to keep staff on payroll which is hard to do when their employees are making more money not working. At least one state addressed this problem by announcing anybody refusing to be recalled to their job will be cut off unemployment benefits.

Then you have the people that can't get through to unemployment to file at all. Adding insult to that injury many are getting denied when they are actually able to file a claim. Several states unemployment filing process can't yet take into account the people not working because of COVID so all those claims are getting denied.

Case in point is my neighbor. I mentioned him in another thread so forgive me if you've read this before but this is the situation he is in. He works for a liquor store which around here is considered an essential business. He suffers from some underlying health conditions that puts him at very high risk if he was to get this virus so he chose to take an unpaid leave from work. Since his workplace is open for business and he voluntarily took a leave of absence he's applied and been denied for unemployment 3 times now. He's been told to just keep applying and when Wisconsin unemployment figures out how to approve these types of claims he'll receive back pay but in the meantime he has zero income and no way to pay his bills or buy groceries. He's not even sure at this point if he will even be approved unless the state accepts risk of exposure as a legitimate reason not to work. Supposedly they will as long as he submits a note from his doctor but he's not putting a lot of faith in that about now.

Plus I personally know quite a few people that are still working that are getting pretty salty about the unemployed getting $600/week in free money while they continue to risk their health for a small bump in pay from their employer if they are lucky. I can see their point. I get that something had to be done but that flat rate across the board wasn't in my opinion the right way to go about it. After all there is a world of difference in the purchasing power of $600/week in the rural south and $600/week in New York or San Francisco.

Even hospitals haven't been immune. Some are overwhelmed. Some are hemorrhaging money so badly they may not recover.

I don't blame the Democrats or the Republicans for this mess. I place blame on both for not coming together to figure out a sustainable plan to deal with this mess.

Medical professionals counter coronavirus lockdown protesters

'We disagree': Medical professionals counter coronavirus lockdown protesters