Sunday, April 26, 2020

 

Sunday Reflection: Who is lost

Do you remember when they were predicting that 60,000 might die of COVID-19 by August? We are getting close to that already. Before long, the death total will be greater than American deaths in the Vietnam War.

The New York Times had a story about one of those deaths. Cesar Quirumbay was a tailor in a fancy shop in Manhattan; as the Times elegantly put it, his hands were the last to shape a suit before a wealthy person wore it. He, of course, was not wealthy or famous. Yet he did an important thing well.

My students have begun answering calls from those in prison who are applying for Medical Release under a new program just started by the Department of Corrections here-- something I called for almost a month ago in this editorial in Minneapolis Star-Tribune.  We (along with people at the other two MN law schools) are helping those who need it as they seek a medical release. I like that about Minnesota: you write an article urging change and someone in power calls and says "Ok, help us do this."

We are fortunate that we have had no deaths in prison here... yet. Eight of the ten worst hot spots in the nation, in fact, are jails and prisons:

Marion Correctional Institution — Marion, Ohio (2,197 positive tests)
Pickaway Correctional Institution — Scioto Township, Ohio (1,643)
Smithfield Foods pork processing facility — Sioux Falls, S.D. (1,033)
Aboard the U.S.S. Theodore Roosevelt — Guam (856)
Cook County jail — Chicago, Ill. (812)
Cummins Unit prison — Grady, Ark. (695)
Bledsoe County Correctional Complex — Pikeville, Tenn. (576)
Neuse Correctional Institution — Goldsboro, N.C. (457)
Lakeland Correctional Facility — Coldwater, Mich. (424)
Harris County jail — Houston, Texas (267)

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/coronavirus-us-cases.html

I have read things where people are minimizing the danger of this pandemic. It reflects a dishonesty that is going to lead to more unnecessary death.

This is a time for truth and action.

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