Pushing her agenda

In her Thursday September 23rd column (“Strained health workers ask tough COVID questions”), Sue Lani Madsen cites a Spokesman-Review article from over a week ago, asserting that “Contrary to sensationalized national news, previous reporting in the Spokesman-Review affirmed the data does not show COVID patients from Idaho overflowing into Spokane hospitals.”

But the Spokesman headline was old news. KHQ and KREM 2, both of which aired well before the September 23rd publication date, told the current story. Googling “Idaho overflow of Covid patients into Washington hospitals” reveals articles describing the problem dating from September 18th. Clearly, it is Idaho’s “my body my choice” attitude, for which Ms. Madsen advocates, that has caused the overflow of COVID patients from Idaho into Washington’s hospitals.

Madsen goes on to claim that we should be asking questions about the effectiveness of natural immunity. We already know it isn’t as effective as the vaccine, as Johns Hopkins University describes in an article titled “Vaccines beat natural immunity in fight against Covid-19.”

Madsen is correct that there is a nursing shortage in the U.S., but it has been going on for a decade or more, prompted by factors like the elderly baby boomer population moving into hospitals more often and tough working conditions exacerbated by COVID. Nor is it because “difficult to discharge patients” take up too many beds. The real problem is the huge number of COVID cases now filling most hospitals across the United States. The purpose of her column was not really to ask hard questions. It was to push an agenda based on misinformation.

Jane Mark

Newman Lake