Forum letters: Nobody is driving. Auto insurers, please cut your rates

Cut auto insurance rates

“California, you’re doing a great job staying home, tracking data show. (Except these places)” (sacbee.com, March 31):

This is a plea to the nation’s auto insurers to massively and immediately cut their rates. Nobody is driving! Their claims will probably drop massively with no one going to work, vacationing or visiting family and friends. They are going to make insane profits as a result of COVID-19. How would the insurance industry argue against the idea? Shouldn’t insurers share in the pain we are all experiencing?

Let medical professionals practice

“California needs nurses, doctors for coronavirus surge. Here’s what the state is doing to get them” (sacbee.com, March 24):

As a healthcare provider in California during the largest pandemic in over a century, I know how critical it is for us do whatever we can to fight COVID-19. It requires “all-hands-on-deck,” with every clinician practicing to the extent of their education and licensure.

When Senator Pan said “We don’t have large numbers of physicians assistants or nurse practitioners sitting around not able to work or respond to this crisis in the state,” it simply wasn’t true. I know many nurse practitioners and nurse-midwives working beneath their licenses because they cannot find doctors willing to let them practice, often because they’re asking for permission to practice from a competing profession.

California is incredibly restrictive of advanced practice nurses; we’re one of three states still requiring physician supervision for nurse-midwives to practice. Florida’s governor just removed supervision by executive order because of this pandemic. I hope Gov. Newsom will follow suit!

Protect retired healthcare workers

“‘Thousands and thousands’ more health workers needed to fight coronavirus, Gavin Newsom says” (sacbee.com, March 30):

Gov. Newsom has called for retired healthcare workers to help assist in caring for COVID-19 patients. As of today, 63 physicians in Italy have died caring for COVID-19 patients. It is likely that there are many nurses, respiratory therapists and other caregivers who have also died. A call for additional manpower is a noble thing. However, retired healthcare providers should not be put on the front lines of direct care for COVID-19 patients given that they are at significantly higher risk of death due to their age. A more appropriate role would be through telemedicine or in other ways that avoid direct patient contact.

Closing gun stores

“NRA’s lawsuit against California exploits coronavirus crisis to push agenda of death” (sacbee.com, March 28):

The NRA is suing California claiming the Second Amendment right to bear arms is infringed by not declaring gun stores “essential” businesses. Temporary closing of gun stores, as well as other “non-essential” businesses during the pandemic isn’t a violation of the Second Amendment.

Trump has declared himself a wartime president fighting COVID-19. Projected deaths in the U.S. from the virus could be 240,000 or more. Crime is down since the stay-at-home directives. The average person does not need to immediately purchase guns for protection during this national emergency. Unnecessary contact with the public needlessly puts many people at risk.

Purchasing a firearm is no more important than the Sixth Amendment right to a speedy trial, impacted with with closing of courts; or the First Amendment right to freedom of assembly, impacted with closing of many venues and gatherings of people. The measures are temporary and will protect lives.

Congress, support state budgets

“Trump signs $2.2T stimulus after swift congressional votes” (sacbee.com, March 28):

We all have to pitch in to meet the crisis we face with COVID-19. I’ve been on the front lines of this fight as part of a “strike team” of emergency medical services professionals who have been deployed from our area to handle the Grand Princess docked and quarantined in Oakland. I volunteered for this assignment because I care about my community and I know my union, AFSCME, will support me if something happens to me. I should not be the exception. Workers around Sacramento are facing the impact of this pandemic today.

Congress must provide more direct support for state and local budgets. That way, our officials have the funding they need to respond to this dangerous and constantly changing situation.

My coworkers and I have been working constantly through this crisis. Now Congress needs to step up to make sure we have the funding we need to protect the public.

SCUSD adjusting to COVID-19

“Coronavirus closed classrooms, forcing Sacramento teachers and young students to adjust” (sacbee.com, March 26):

Teachers and young students aren’t the only people in the Sacramento City Unified School District who are forced to adjust in the face of crisis. SCUSD Superintendent Jorge Aguilar will find himself forced to adjust to a whopping 9 percent pay raise, for an eye-popping salary of $414,818. This does not include Mr. Aguilar’s second salary from UC Merced.

The district has seemed to lurch from fiscal crisis to fiscal crisis during Mr. Aguilar’s tenure, necessitating a one-day teachers’ strike, multiple annual layoffs and long-term substitutes teaching core subject classes despite what was then a booming economy. As we enter a period of economic freefall, I dread the sacrifices which teachers and young students will be asked to make to support a part-time leader who can’t balance his district’s budget while making more than the president of the United States.

This story was originally published April 5, 2020 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Forum letters: Nobody is driving. Auto insurers, please cut your rates."