Sacrificing Our Principles

Copyright © 2021 Jerry Halberstadt Original source: https://stopbullyingcoalition.org/mycovid “Though we sow in sorrow, yet shall we reap in joy.”   Dear Friends and Colleagues, This is a time of great danger for all of us who are elderly and disabled and live in public and privately owned subsidized housing. We are all at exceptional risk of getting COVID, becoming severely ill, and of death. Now I have COVID-19, or more precisely, COVID has me; I am 84 and have health conditions so that my risk is great. I have access to excellent medical care, although the health system is under stress and I am working long hours to assure my care. Usually I write about our common needs, our advocacy that we do together, and to put forth policy and legislative proposals. Today, not knowing the future, I am writing to you—my friends, my colleagues, my opponents, and my mentors—in haste to look back with a personal perspect

Dear Dean Galea: It is with a love for the School of Public Health and a concern for its long-term reputation that we write this letter urging the School to begin the semester with virtual-only classes. We do not think it is responsible for the School to be holding in-person classes at the peak of this pandemic. This is an open letter and is being sent to all SPH faculty who are teaching this semester and whose health and safety are therefore at risk because of what we believe will be unsafe conditions at the start of the semester. When BUSPH opened for hybrid classes in the fall, COVID-19 infection rates were at a lull, with fewer than 200 cases reported in the state per day. At this time, however, the opposite is the case. We are in the midst of the largest surge of cases in Massachusetts since the start of the pandemic. At the peak of the first surge in April 2020, Massachusetts experienced 2,300 cases at its absolute peak. In the past seven days, we have experienced