December, 2020
Lincoln – Nebraska's Covid crisis is out of control. Despite repeated pleas from health professionals, pandemic avoidance measures are being ignored by far too many people.
An account of the dire situation in one Lincoln hospital, Bryan Memorial, has just appeared in the Lincoln Journal Star. It is the best Covid reporting I have seen this year, from anyone, anywhere. The author is Chris Dunker.
The situation developed because of, and is exacerbated by, dangerously inept political leadership, which is only getting worse. When hospitalizations declined slightly in recent days, because of a raised bar for admissions, desperate entreaties from doctors and nurses, and new mask mandates from more local governments, Governor Ricketts relaxed countermeasures against group gatherings, the effect of which will be to push hospitals once again past their limits.
It is as if the Governor is watching for any available hospital space, so as to fill it up with new patients. For months he has refused to look at numbers of cases or deaths, but to the availability of hospital beds for his basic guidance.
Despite the recent exemplary reporting, Nebraska's fourth estate has not distinguished itself in calling out the deficient political leadership that is costing hundreds of Nebraskans their lives, needlessly. The press has customarily reported on the Governor's pronouncements as if they were public service announcements, and not taken the opportunity simultaneously to inform the public that those fighting the Covid battles on the front lines have been screaming, sometimes literally, that more must be done beyond the Governor's weak responses to the pandemic challenge.
