Recent editorials from Mississippi newspapers:
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May 20
The Greenwood Commonwealth on how the Mississippi Legislature should distribute virus relief funds:
The $1.25 billion Mississippi has received in coronavirus relief is a chunk of money. To put it in perspective, that’s about one-fifth of the state’s annual general fund budget.
But, as with all pots of money that state government has, there will be more requests and needs than there will be money to cover. That means the Legislature, which has asserted its control over how most of the money is spent, will have to make some choices.
It already has made a $300 million choice. That’s how much lawmakers have set aside for grants to small businesses, with priority given to those that have not received forgivable loans from the federal government for keeping their employees on the payroll. Earlier, during a dust-up with Gov. Tate Reeves, the Legislature gave him discretion over $100 million for emergency spending related to battling the spread of COVID-19.
That leaves $850 million still to allocate - and there will be no shortage of suitors. The Mississippi Department of Education has said it would like $250 million to equip all of the state’s public school students with computers and broadband access on the possibility that the schools will still be closed in the fall and forced to continue distance learning. Mississippi hospitals are asking for more than $300 million to offset some of the losses they are suffering from treating COVID-19 patients. Municipal governments, which are anticipating a huge drop in revenues due to a decline in sales tax receipts, want help. So do county governments.
Lawmakers can take two approaches with this money. It can try to spread it as far as it can, giving as many corners of the public and private sectors a piece so as to try to ameliorate the most people possible. That seems to be the federal government’s approach in the $3 trillion it has spent so far on relief.
Or it can target the funding to a few select areas - such as health care and manufacturing - that could produce the biggest bang for the buck.
For Mississippi, which, unlike the federal government, does not have the power to print money, we would recommend the more targeted approach.
Most areas of the economy have been hit hard by the shutdowns of the past two months. Even though Mississippi is gradually lifting many of those restrictions, it looks like it will be a slow recovery. The quicker that some of the state’s largest job providers are back on their feet, the quicker the recovery can come and ripple through to everyone else.
A targeted approach means having to set priorities. That’s not easy politically, but that’s what lawmakers signed up for when they ran for office - that is, to help manage the state’s finances through the good times and the bad.
In all times, but particularly in bad times, that means saying “no” to requests that may be worthy but just not worthy enough.
Online: https://www.gwcommonwealth.com
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May 19
The Dispatch on Mississippi officials denying access to certain coronavirus data involving long-term care facilities:
Access to quality data has been essential in every phase of the COVID-19 pandemic. The relationship between the public and those who provide that data is one built on mutual trust: We trust our experts to give us accurate, actionable information, and they trust us to follow their recommendations.
Unfortunately, in Mississippi there has been a breach of trust in the relationship that endangers public health and seriously undermines the credibility of our state’s health experts.
The elderly residing in long-term care facilities (LTCs) are particularly vulnerable to the virus. According to the Mississippi State Department of Health, as of May 18, nearly half the COVID-19 deaths state-wide were linked to LTCs.
In light of this, newspapers have repeatedly asked MSDH to provide the names of the LTCs where deaths have occurred. The Pine Belt News in Hattiesburg, The Clarion-Ledger in Jackson and The Meridian Star has all asked for this information to no avail. The Pine Belt News filed suit to demand the MSDH release the names of these facilities. The Clarion-Ledger has filed a complaint with the state’s Ethics Commission.
The Mississippi Press Association, which represents member newspapers throughout the state, has written a letter to MSDH supporting these efforts. The Dispatch also supports them.
MSDH has refused to release the names, saying they will not release the information until the crisis has passed. One of the reasons? They’re too busy, they say.
The state’s leading health expert, Dr. Thomas Dobbs, said MSDH has a list of those facilities, so we cannot imagine that MSDH does not have the manpower and time required to scan and email a single-page document.
This is not a matter of protecting personal information under HIPPA law. None of the requests seek the names of any LTC residents. It is instead, a request for information crucial to the health of many including those who have family members or staff in LTCs, families who are considering placement of a family member in an LTC, vendors and others who may come into regular contact with those at the LTCs.
MSDH says it doesn’t want to release the names of the facilities for fear they will be stigmatized. To the degree that is true, there is an even greater interest at stake here: The right of people to have facts that inform their decision.
MSDH simply doesn’t trust us enough to provide that information.
If a restaurant were found to have an outbreak of salmonella poisoning there would be no hesitation in providing the name of the restaurant.
The stakes are infinitely higher here. With a public health crisis that has already cost the lives of 528 Mississippians - almost half of them in LTCs whose names haven’t been revealed to the public - it is inconceivable that MSDH would deliberately, cynically, conceal this information.
Such obstinance not only damages the department’s credibility, it jeopardizes lives.
If we cannot trust our state health experts in this time of crisis to provide such relevant information, where are we supposed to turn?
Online: https://www.cdispatch.com
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May 17
The Daily Journal on continued efforts to help struggling local businesses and community members:
Even as the Legislature moves to open the spigot on more than one billion dollars of relief funds intended to stem the economic damage of the coronavirus pandemic, local residents of our region aren’t just sitting around, waiting.
Instead, Mississippians are helping Mississippians.
Oxford is a community especially known for its restaurants and hospitality industry. As shelter-in-place orders and social distancing measures began to shutter these industries about a month and a half ago, Alena Tikhova, the owner of Dodo Pizza, started the Restaurant Workers Relief Center.
Tikhova estimates that about 500 restaurant workers have lost their job in Oxford alone.
In response, the Restaurant Workers Relief Center has helped more than 40 people pay bills and has served hundreds through a food pantry.
Similar efforts are ongoing elsewhere. A Facebook group called Tupelo Community Needs has helped laid-off restaurant workers look for odd jobs or other paying work.
A similar Facebook page called Starkville Strong offers packages of vital supplies, including food, diapers, cleaning supplies and gift cards.
Other organizing efforts operate on the basis of linking community members directly to each other, building solidarity even in a time of physical distancing. These mutual aid efforts are active in Oxford and Tupelo.
All this even as a partnership between the CREATE Foundation and the United Way of Northeast Mississippi continues to distribute money to partner agencies from its COVID-19 Support Fund. That money has gone to food banks, shelters and other worthy causes, including diapers and formula for children and meals for frontline workers.
So even as dining-rooms reopen and other businesses open their doors for the first time in weeks, let’s remember: the need isn’t going away anytime soon. Some restaurants and retail stores have not yet opened. Those that have must still restrict the numbers of patrons served and some will likely operate on limited hours.
That means the number of staff needed and the hours available for those staff will not immediately return to pre-pandemic levels. We are still very early in what will almost certainly be a long process of returning to normalcy, a process that also contains much uncertainty.
In the face of this long process, the resources of state and federal governments will be a vital tool. The Mississippi Legislature appropriated some $300 million last week for small business relief and we hope to see Gov. Tate Reeves quickly move to administer this relief.
But even as this money, and other relief money, begins to seep into our community, let’s not forget: We all have a role to play. Look for your own role, and take it.
Online: https://www.djournal.com
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