Apr 28, 2020 2 min read

Once again, Dave Ball has called for the lifting of stay-at-home orders in his April 20 op-ed, “Does a sledgehammer really work?” I do agree that the American public is bored with restrictions and the economy is suffering. A retreat, however, without an effective plan going forward could be disastrous. The public has lost confidence in our national leaders and we don’t know what to believe. Illness and deaths from the pandemic have not peaked and may not do so for some time. After the first wave of the virus, there may be other subsequent infections that hit the country. Most of the U.S. has not peaked with the first wave; even people who have had the virus may become sick again.

If essential workers such as grocery store employees, truckers, health care workers, postal workers, farm workers, public employees, utility workers and others walk off of their jobs due to the realistic fear of life-threatening infection, then we will face an existential threat to our American society. Will workers trade their health and lives for a paycheck? The economy and order would collapse, and calling out the National Guard won’t be a solution. Truly, a dystopian future and not too realistic.

What is the answer? Of course, I don’t know, but I do believe that we need a universally available testing program before restrictions are lifted. A supervised quarantine should be put in place for those testing positive, all citizens guaranteed monthly income of $1,000 and free health care to essential workers until an effective vaccine is available. I do know that the leadership we deserve as the world’s most advanced country is sorely lacking in the Trump administration.

Michael B. Nicolella

Upper St. Clair