A24 EZ RE THE WASHINGTON POST.WEDNESDAy, MARCH 18 , 2020
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IKE CRUISE ship passengers and nursing
home residents, inmates in jails and prisons
are at heightened risk of contracting and
transmitting the novel coronavirus — with
the added peril of violent combustion that is ever
present in an incarcerated population. Prisoners at
two dozen i nstitutions in Italy rioted this month a fter
the government, seeking to contain the virus, im-
posed a countrywide lockdown that curtailed prison
visits by relatives and others. It is critical that
U.S. officials focus right now on how to limit the
pandemic’s e ffects in federal and state facilities.
There are no known outbreaks yet in prisons,
though that may reflect the absence of testing. Many
of them are perfect incubators for the disease,
housing packed-in populations more likely than
other Americans to have a chronic condition or
infectious disease. Social distancing i s all but impos-
sible at most prisons and jails. Overcrowding; bro-ken sinks; unreliable soap s upplies; a steady influx of
new inmates; and, at m any institutions, substandard
medical care — these are ingredients that could
easily fuel the pandemic behind bars.
Some 2.2 million U.S. prisoners are in danger; so
are hundreds of thousands of corrections officers
and others who work in such institutions and then
circulate in their communities. All of them need
timely and complete information on protocols and
best practices for contending with the virus.
Even with full notice, however, intensive mitiga-
tion will be required. Prisoner advocate organiza-
tions have offered suggestions worth considering.
Those include supervised release for nonviolent
inmates, especially those who suffer from chronic
diseases, and, for some elderly prisoners, expedited
parole hearings.
Many state and local institutions that house
prisoners are already limiting visits by outsiders,including relatives and lawyers. They should com-
pensate by expanding inmates’ telephone privileges
and supplementing them with video links.
T he California corrections department has begun
conducting parole hearings for convicts behind
closed doors, barring observers and requiring that
any input from prosecutors and victims take place by
telephone or video hookup. That’s not ideal, as the
department acknowledged. But it is the responsible
thing to do, and other states are following suit.
The real danger is in doing nothing, on the belief
that what takes place in penal institutions is less
critical or somehow separate from society — or that
the lives of convicts are worth less than those of free
men and women. In f act, prisons a nd jails are porous
places; their walls do nothing to impede the s pread o f
disease. T he failure to contain t he virus on the inside,
for whatever reason, will accelerate its proliferation
on the outside.Covid-19 won’t stay behind bars
U.S. officials must focus on how to limit the pandemic’s effects in federal and state prisons.
E
ARLIER THIS year, the Trump administra-
tion took a small step toward balancing a
gross asymmetry in U.S.-Chinese relations:
While Chinese news organizations, including
state-run bodies that serve as fronts for intelligence
agencies, freely deployed hundreds of purported
journalists and family members in the United States,
China allowed a much smaller contingent of U. S. re-
porters, and they were experiencing mounting ha-
rassment. T he S tate Department designated f ive C hi-
nese news outlets as official government entities —
which they are — and subjected them to reporting
requirements a pplied to diplomats.
That h as touched off a tit-for-tat press war that t he
regime of Xi Jinping has used to further curtail
independent r eporting f rom China, even as the world
battles the covid-19 pandemic that originated there.
In its latest step, on Tuesday the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs withdrew the credentials of journalists from
The Post, the New York Times and the Wall Street
Journal who are U. S. citizens. One of The Post’s two
full-time correspondents, Gerry Shih, appeared to be
covered by the o rder.
China claims to be responding reciprocally to
U.S. actions. In fact, the measures of the two govern-
ments, as well as the people affected, bear little
similarity to one another. Beijing’s initial answer to
the U.S. requirement was to expel three Wall Street
Journal reporters, one of whom had been reporting
from Hubei province, where the novel coronavirus
now s weeping the w orld o riginated.
T hat was in keeping with what h as been a growing
practice of canceling or limiting the visas of foreign
journalists whose coverage the regime objects to.
According to a report this month by the Foreign
Correspondents’ Club of China, the regime has ex-
pelled or refused to renew visas for nine correspon-
dents since 2013; in 2019, it limited visas for a dozen
others t o six m onths or less. While Chinese journalists
in the United States r eceive indefinite visas, a nd some
stay for a decade or longer, “Chinese authorities areusing visas as weapons against the foreign press like
never before,” t he report s aid.
The State Department answered the first Wall
Street Journal expulsions with an overdue measure:
It l imited the U.S.-based Chinese staff of t he five s tate
organizations to 100, d own from 1 60 and about equal
to the number of U.S. citizens accredited as journal-
ists in China. No particular individual was targeted;
State refrained from designating those “journalists”
whose principal work is believed to be reporting to
intelligence agencies. Secretary of State Mike P ompeo
said the U nited S tates was not seeking t o restrict w hat
Chinese news organizations report but rather “toestablish a long-overdue l evel playing field.”
China could respond by accrediting more American
journalists and getting an expansion of its U.S. bu-
reaus in return. Instead, it has chosen to further
restrict independent reporting on the country at a
time when much o f the world is wondering whether it
can believe Beijing’s accounts of the covid-19 epidem-
ic. As it happens, The Post on Tuesday published a
vivid and balanced account by Mr. Shih of the recent
lockdown imposed on Beijing, which he described as
effective in stemming the epidemic. It’s hard to see
how Mr. Xi’s r egime can benefit from further suppres-
sion of such fair and credible reporting.China’s lockdown
o n journalism
Mr. Xi’s regime hurts itself
b y repressing c redible reporting.ABCDE
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the Washington Post
1301 K St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20071 (202) 334-6000According to the March 14 Metro article “Metro
reducing rail and bus services,” the Washington
Metropolitan Area Transit Authority is reducing the
frequency of trains to 12 minutes because of the
coronavirus. Metro’s rationale for this? The safety of
its employees. Never mind the safety of passengers
and the region’s population. Though a service
reduction could protect bus drivers, not so much for
train conductors or station managers.
So whom exactly is Metro protecting with a rail
reduction? The single Metro employee on each train,
in an enclosed space on the train? Station managers,
the single Metro employee in a glass-enclosed kiosk?
It obviously isn’t rail customers, who outnumber
Metro employees.
I rode the Red Line to and from Glenmont to
Metro Center all last week and paid attention to the
number of riders. There was no decrease in the
number of riders on the morning or evening trains.
Social distancing was not possible on my trains on
any day during rush hour. On Monday, it was still a
challenge to be more than a few feet from others,
even though I rode at off-hours. With a further
reduction in trains, train cars will be more crowded,
and Metro customers will undoubtedly spread the
virus.
So, Metro, exactly whom are you “protecting”
with a reduction in rail service? The bottom line?
Susan Kramer , Silver SpringWe are failing miserably at the federal level in
responding to the novel coronavirus. We are spin-
ning our wheels trying to get through the response
phase of the disaster, leaving us unable to even begin
recovery efforts. It’s proper that we have medical
professionals involved, but much more is needed.
We need expertise in logistics, communications,
procurement and supply chains, for starters.
The president should replace Vice President
Pence with a certified, professional disaster/conti-
nuity expert who understands all the aspects of what
it takes for a successful response, recovery and
resumption effort.
Kim Hemphill , South RidingI hope that if Congress authorizes financial aid
to the hotel industry, that the legislation include a
provision requiring the Trump Organization to
release relevant financial records.
Michael Spiro , Silver SpringThe U.S. Public Health Service (USPHS),
commanded by the surgeon general, was initiated by
Congress in 1798 to combat infectious diseases
brought into the United States by merchant seamen.
The role of USPHS has fluctuated over the years, but
its mission remains the same: to protect, promote,
and advance the health and safety of the people of
the United States.
President Trump declared a national emergency
and appropriated about $1 trillion to combat the
coronavirus. There are more than 6,000 uniformed
USPHS officers — not enough to serve a population
of 330 million.
Colleges are emptying, releasing millions to
return to communities all across the country to wait
this out. Using a model similar to the Cadet Nurse
Corps of World War II, our nation’s idled youths
could be deployed, with appropriate training, to
take the battle for better health door-to-door. For
years we conscripted 18- to 25-year-olds to protect us
in wars. Using this same demographic in our
defense, we could begin fighting this pandemic
almost immediately. By recruiting those who are
willing to serve, we can accomplish more — more
quickly.
R esponding appropriately to this emergency re-
quires collective participation, a patriotic effort and
local community action. Direct employment of our
youths can help alleviate some of the growing fear of
economic collapse and would be a more direct use of
our resources than tax cuts and industry bailouts.
Perhaps this voluntary service would kindle
interest in students to help permanently strengthen
our weakened public health system. It would cer-
tainly better equip us to prepare for the next
pandemic.
Kevin Kearney , Cabin JohnNow we know who t he i mportant people are. We
can live for quite a while without consultants,
analysts, lawyers, members of Congress, stock bro-
kers, bureaucrats and paper-pushers of all sorts. We
can’t do even for one week without trash collectors,
grocery store workers, pharmacists, doctors, nurses,
hospital workers, truck drivers who transport our
food and medicine, firefighters, police officers, peo-
ple who keep our utilities and communication
systems going, repairmen, transit workers and many
others who do hands-on service work.
In the grocery store recently, I saw low-paid men
and women laboring to restock the shelves and
wanted to say to them, “Thank you for your
indispensable work.”
Marian Lapp , ArlingtonThe March 14 editorial “America is up to the
challenge” mentioned that this pandemic crisis
would have the positive effect of bringing the strong
in our community together to help the weak.
However, the optimism of this editorial failed to
acknowledge one crucial factor to realize this vision:
widespread coronavirus test availability. To this
date, patients who are worried and well and those
with mild flu symptoms are urged by primary care
doctors and emergency room physicians to not be
tested. To t he contrary, h owever, the message sent by
public health authorities is that there is wide
asymptomatic spread, as evidenced by our local
school closures.
T he current absence of widespread indiscrimi-
nate testing for those who do not meet strict criteria
will unfortunately cripple our collective community
from coming together to help each other because of
a real fear of spreading the contagion to the
vulnerable among us.
Aliya Poshni , PotomacRegarding the March 12 Metro article “Cherry
blossom fest events curtailed”:
I knew if I waited long enough — I’m 69 — the
cherry blossoms would finally be all mine.
Well, at l east, all ours. Enjoy the District. Just k eep
your distance!
Skip Strobel , WashingtonResponding to the coronavirus
A
C ORONAVIRUS epidemic is now inevitable
in the United States, but appropriate, large-
scale public health measures can still fore-
stall the worst scenarios. S imilarly, econom-
ic damage is inevitable, yet large-scale monetary
and fiscal measures can prevent the worst from
happening in that realm.
There are encouraging signs that the national
political leadership is stepping up to the task — late,
but possibly not quite too late. On Tuesday, Treasury
Secretary Steven Mnuchin backed a plan to get cash
to ordinary American households immediately,
targeted to those lower on the income scale. In d oing
so, he abandoned President Trump’s previous insis-
tence on a slower-acting, less-targeted payroll tax
holiday, in favor of following what economists from
both parties had been recommending for days. Even
better, Mr. Trump said he is fully on board, in a rare
but welcome — if implicit — indication that he can
listen to others when it really counts. On Capitol
Hill, Democrats and Republicans in the Senate are
discussing large-scale fiscal relief plans, rangingnear $1 trillion, in a spirit, so far, of bipartisanship.
Unemployment insurance, Medicaid funds and
other aid to the most vulnerable must be part of the
plan. Next up will be taxpayer-funded relief for key
sectors of the economy — from transportation to
energy — that have been particularly hard hit.
It’s important to understand why timely, targeted
and — we hope — temporary fiscal intervention of
this scale is justified, indeed essential, even at a time
of already massive federal debt.
First, the Federal Reserve has nearly maxed out
on its ability to help, having cut interest rates to
zero, announced at least $700 billion in asset
purchases, dollar swaps with other nations’ central
banks and extended liquidity assistance to the
financial sector. These steps can help prevent
financial panic and lay the basis for post-crisis
recovery, but their short-run impact is limited. Even
with the Fed setting the cost of capital at rock
bottom, there’s not much incentive for private
investment now.
Second, this is not a downturn brought on byspeculation or other forms of business irresponsibil-
ity. It is a sudden stop to both production and
consumption undertaken at t he recommendation of
the authorities to help save lives. No one, not even a
big business, deserves to be punished for that. To the
contrary, many businesses in potential need of
assistance now had been well run and, when
healthy, represent strategic assets of the U.S. econo-
my. Federal aid therefore does not represent a
reward for “bad behavior,” as, arguably, the
2008 bailout did. And even that was better than the
alternative, which was to stand aside and let the
economy crash. Government can, and should, place
conditions on any aid to industry: For example,
companies should have to promise there will be no
layoffs and accept limits on executive compensation.
In other words, Congress and the president can
act without the usual concerns for budget con-
straints or the fear of rewarding or encouraging bad
behavior. Indeed, they must do so, lest this sudden
crisis go from manageably bad to disastrously
worse.Time for swift economic action
Congress and the Trump administration are moving smartly in the right direction.
ABCDE
AN INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPER
eDItorIAlstom tolesIt’s little wonder that the Maryland legislature is
looking for new sources of revenue. [“$700 mil-
lion tax plan to fund schools advances,” Metro,
March 11].
State spending has increased 50 percent over the
past 10 years — $32 billion in 2011 to $48 billion in
fiscal 2021. At the same time, Maryland’s popula-
tion has increased around 5 percent — from
5.8 million to 6.1 million — and the consumer price
index has increased roughly 15 percent. This sort of
trend is not sustainable.
Worse, the proposed $700 million in new taxes is
only a down payment on planned school system
changes projected to cost $4 billion annually in
10 years, as proposed by the Kirwan Commission.
Just as we expect children to learn self-disciplinein school, Maryland’s legislature would do better to
exercise a little more discipline and self-control
over spending. It’s wonderful to want a school
system that “could” be the envy of the world, but it
won’t be much good if nobody can afford to live
here.
Matthew R. Krafft , BethesdaThe price of a good education
Maryland’s legislature would do
better to exercise a little more
discipline over spending.
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