Featured Commentary category, Page 92

As the coronavirus pandemic continues to rage across our state, country and world, every day we wake up to new unsettling statistics. As of this writing, in Pennsylvania alone, there are 25,345 cases of coronavirus, but there are surely hundreds, maybe even thousands more, who have contracted the virus but...

My patient lay on her side, her back heaving up and down. At first, I was afraid that perhaps she was becoming increasingly short of breath. As I moved closer and saw her face, I noticed she was crying. Streaks of tears rolled down her smooth brown skin. “Are you...

Christopher Koman, M.D., is a family physician with Genesis Medical Associates in McCandless. A farmer has a pond. On day 1, there is one lily pad. He knows that they grow fast and will double every day and completely cover his pond in 30 days. On what day will his...

President Donald Trump’s assertion Monday that he has “ultimate,” even “total” authority to dictate the reopening of the U.S. economy raised eyebrows among constitutional scholars and set up a conflict with governors and local officials who have placed their own states and communities on lockdown. “In the coming weeks, the...

For many Pennsylvanians, the covid-19 pandemic became real on March 13 when Gov. Tom Wolf ordered Pennsylvania’s schools to close. The governor’s recent announcement that schools will not reopen this school year has brought sadness and a deep sense of loss to students, families and educators, who will be wholly...

T he same day the number of U.S. dead from the coronavirus disease hit the 15,000 mark, we also crossed the 15 million mark on the number of Americans we threw out of work to slow its spread and “bend the curve.” For each American lost to the pandemic, 1,000...

Mail-in voting is the best way to ensure that the November 2020 election can proceed safely despite the coronavirus pandemic. It’s all too likely we’ll still be dealing with outbreaks then, and it’s well before we’ll have a vaccine. The United States needs to start making plans for mail-in ballots...

When Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders finally announced he was suspending his campaign — but oddly, that he will remain on the ballot and collect delegates — the news hit his supporters understandably hard. Despite Sanders’ clear lack of viability over the past month, and a pandemic that paralyzed his and...

A tremor of worry has fallen upon Christian America. With 90% of Americans under stay-at-home orders and only one-fifth of religious Americans still attending worship services, many Christians are left wondering, “How will I celebrate Easter this year?” Even President Trump sought to dull the effects of this tremor, considering...

We black people are so convenient and useful to America’s leftists. Whenever there’s a bit of silencing to be done, just accuse a detractor or critic of racism. A recent, particularly stupid, example is CNN’s Brandon Tensley’s complaint that the “Coronavirus Task Force is another example of Trump administration’s lack...

Two weeks ago, President Trump signed the largest stimulus bill in U.S. history: more than $2 trillion. For once, both Republicans and Democrats agreed. The Senate voted 96-0. The House didn’t even bother with a formal vote. At the White House, a reporter asked the president, pointing out that the...

Erin Wall teaches AP English at Woodland Hills High School, where she has worked since 2005. The sounds of our schools are silenced. The tapping of pencil marks, the screeching of desks, the ticking of the clock, the chiming of the bell, the laughter and chatter of voices that flow...

In any battle, clear objectives are imperative. Unfortunately, in fighting a virus invisible to the naked eye, the end goal has become nearly as intangible: flatten the curve, slow the spread, contain the virus. But how flat? How slow? How contained? When will we know if we’ve succeeded? Clearly, we...

In the face of this unprecedented global pandemic, new phrases like “social distancing” and “flatten the curve” have quickly entered our American lexicon. But as government officials, business owners and frontline personnel around the world grapple with challenges we never could have imagined just weeks ago, there is one single...

Last week, Pennsylvania law enforcement experienced its first loss related to covid-19 with the passing of Lt. James Walker, a 32-year veteran of the Philadelphia Police Department. My heart goes out to Walker’s family and colleagues during this difficult time. Additionally, my mind is on the other 52 Philadelphia officers...

A rough estimate of coronavirus-related unemployment levels can be made for the Pittsburgh metro area based on data through the end of March. And it’s quite the sobering picture that’s certain to grow worse, says a scholar at the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy. “The economic deterioration resulting from the...

While many Americans are watching the daily news conferences by President Donald Trump and some governors, the action behind the scenes is being led by the elected officials who are closest to the public, and who are directly managing the crisis in their communities: mayors. As we listen to public...

One little-noticed consequence of the novel coronavirus crisis might be an outbreak of chutzpah. That’s a possible explanation for an audacious request by Martin Shkreli, the notorious “pharma bro” known for jacking up the price of old drugs to which he had acquired the rights, the better to reap profits...

“Depend upon it, sir, when a man knows he is to be hanged in a fortnight, it concentrates his mind wonderfully,” Samuel Johnson said. And as it is with men, so it is with nations. Dr. Deborah Birx, White House coronavirus response coordinator, has projected some 100,000 to 200,000 U.S....

As this frightening pandemic affects every facet of our lives, more and more citizens are doing what they can to keep safe by staying at home, practicing social distancing and keeping in touch with others as remotely as possible. We don’t know when this nightmare will end, or when we...

The covid-19 pandemic will long be remembered as a time that upended people’s lives and livelihoods and caused too many family tragedies to count. Each day, there is more depressing news about more cases and more deaths. It creates a shadow of doom over our society and world. Many ways...

A reporter asked President Trump last week what he thought of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s claim that impeachment distracted Trump from tackling the coronavirus epidemic earlier. The president gave a rambling answer but ultimately settled on a firm no. “I don’t think I would have done better had I...

Being a nurse isn’t easy. It’s not enough to master the clinical knowledge required; nurses also have to be adaptable, empathetic and most of all compassionate. As a professor of nursing, I have always stressed to my students that they need to master all of these skills to be a...

Pennsylvania Local Government Week is April 6-10, and we can think of no better time to recognize our townships, which are on the front lines of making sure life goes on as smoothly and safely as possible in their communities during the covid-19 pandemic. As the covid-19 emergency continues throughout...

In the movies, this all goes very differently. In Hollywood’s version of events, the federal government had been building a secret bunker in the limestone cliffs of Missouri to house a million people in the expectation of an extinction-level-event. Or the entire executive and legislative branches were relocated to an...