A18 EZ RE THE WASHINGTON POST.MONDAY, AUGUST 3 , 2020
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR[email protected]LOCAL OPINIONSC
HILDREN ARE not free of the novel corona-
virus. Consider the outbreak at a Georgia
overnight summer camp in June. Some
260 campers and staff tested positive out of
344 test results available. Among those ages 6-10,
51 percent got the virus; from 11-17 years old,
44 percent, and 18-21 years old, 33 percent. The
campers did a lot of singing and shouting; did not
wear face masks; windows were not opened for
ventilation, although other precautions were taken.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
concluded that the virus “spread efficiently in a
youth-centric overnight setting, resulting in high
attack rates among persons in all age groups,” many
showing no symptoms.
The Georgia camp outbreak is the latest sign that
children cannot escape the pandemic. They carry
significant viral loads. They do not get as sick or die
as often as adults. The big unanswered question is
how much do they spread or transmit the disease,
and what are the ramifications for reopeningschools? Is the Georgia summer camp episode a
harbinger of what’s to come if in-person classrooms
resume in the fall?
A report published on Thursday in the Journal of
the American Medical Association Pediatrics, based
on 145 patients with mild to moderate illness in
Chicago, showed that young children may have
nearly as much viral genetic material as older
children or adults. An earlier preliminary study by
Christian Drosten in Germany also found “viral
loads do not differ significantly” between young and
old age groups.
Children seem to suffer less as a result of infec-
tion, although a small group have become quite sick.
The reported number of deaths from the virus
among children under the age of 18 in the United
States is less than 1 percent of total deaths, and only
1 percent of total hospitalizations, even though
children make up 22 percent of the population. Of all
those testing positive, children make up about
7 percent. A National Academies of Sciences, Engi-neering and Medicine paper says more than 90 per-
cent of children who test positive “will have mild
symptoms,” and “only a small percentage of symp-
tomatic children (estimates range from 1 to 5 per-
cent) will have severe or critical symptoms.”
How children might transmit the virus is critical,
yet not fully understood. A large study in South
Korea found that children under age 10 spread the
virus within a household at the lowest rate, but those
ages 10 to 19 were more likely to spread it than
adults. This study, however, was not in schools. The
Kaiser Family Foundation reports those nations that
did a good job of tamping down community spread
of the virus have managed to open schools without
major outbreaks, but there are examples, such as
Israel, where reopening came with serious school
outbreaks. Much seems to depend on community
spread. In t he United States, the virus is still on the
move across many states. The Georgia summer
camp outbreak is a warning that children may not be
spared sickness, nor the adults around them.A summer camp’s pandemic message
Children don’t get as ill, but questions linger over transmission.
I
T SHOULD not have taken the death of another
Black man in police custody to catalyze the
debate over long-standing residential segrega-
tion and racial wealth inequality, but it did —
and that debate is now in full swing. Predictably,
President Trump’s contribution to it on Twitter was
appallingly divisive. He appealed to what he
believes to be the self-interest of suburban resi-
dents, telling them his abrogation of a key Obama
administration regulation to foster desegregated
neighborhoods means that “all of the people living
their Suburban Lifestyle Dream... will no longer
be bothered or financially hurt by having low
income housing built in your neighborhood. Your
housing prices will go up based on the market, and
crime will go down.” It was a g rotesque effort to win
reelection by stoking racial fear.
We have our doubts that it will work: The
president seems unaware of the rising sympathy for
Black Lives Matter in those very same suburbs. His
opponent, former vice president Joe Biden, is
offering a different message, including a tax
proposal that could increase homeownership —
suburban or otherwise — to more low-income
people more efficiently than current tax policies do.
Mr. Biden would institute a refundable tax credit of
$15,000 for first-time home buyers, most of whom
do not make enough money to itemize their
deductions — which means they do not benefit
from the main federal tax subsidy for homeowner-
ship, the mortgage interest deduction (MID).
Indeed, repeated economic analyses have
shown that a tax credit would not only be more
progressive, distributionally, than the MID, but
also do more to enable home purchases that would
not have occurred otherwise. This would be
especially true if Mr. Biden imposes an income
limit on eligibility, which we assume he will do
since his plan cites the model of a temporary
Obama administration program that phased out
for couples earning more than $150,000 andMr. Biden’s
suburban dream
Unlike Mr. Trump,
he wants it accessible to all.ABCDE
FREDERICK J. RYAN JR., Publisher and Chief Executive Officer
News pages: Editorial and opinion pages:
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Executive Editor Editorial Page Editor
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Managing Editor Deputy Editorial Page Editor
TRACY GRANT JO-ANN ARMAO
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KRISSAH THOMPSON
Managing Editor
SCOTT VANCE
Deputy Managing Editor
BARBARA VOBEJDA
Deputy Managing Editor
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1301 K St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20071 (202) 334-individuals earning more than $75,000. Like other
purchase subsidies, this one could be partially
captured by sellers in the form of higher home
prices. But existing policies already do that, for the
sake of less improvement in housing equity and
access.
Mr. Biden says he will pay for the credit, in part,
through higher taxes on corporations and large
financial institutions. We believe he should be
bolder, by eliminating the mortgage interest deduc-
tion and using that revenue to offset the new tax
credit’s cost. Until now, frontally attacking the MID
has been politically risky; suburbanites like it. Yet
one of the few positive effects of Mr. Trump’s 2017
tax bill was to cut the annual cost of the MID to
$30 billion in 2018, roughly half its previous level,shrinking even further the number of households
that can take advantage of it. Its political base
narrowed, the MID is ripe for elimination. Replace-
ment of the MID with a targeted tax credit for
first-time buyers would rationalize housing policy
and possibly chip away at entrenched segregation
and wealth disparities. Yes, the “Suburban Lifestyle
Dream” can be a beautiful thing. The point is to
make it accessible to all who want it.JONATHAN ERNST/REUTERS
Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden departs a c ampaign event in Wilmington,
Del., on July 28 after speaking about his plans to combat racial inequality.I noticed in a photograph accompanying the
July 29 front-page article “Politics at the point of a
gun” that Matt Marshall’s holstered handgun had a
cocked hammer. It would appear he is sending the
wrong picture of his brand of citizen activism, which
seems to represent yet another fringe group.
It feels as if this country is a big pinball game, with
the pinball knocking against one fringe group after
another. As the holster says, “We the People” are still
fellow citizens of our own country, not enemies from
a foreign country out to do us harm.
Mike Yurewicz , RestonLocked and loaded, but why?
Regarding the July 31 front-page article “Nation’s
unrest looms large as Lewis is eulogized”:
Former president Barack Obama reminded us so
elegantly last week what it means to live in a just
democracy and what it takes to keep one. He de-
scribed the great debt we owe, as Americans, to the
late congressman John Lewis (D-Ga.) for getting into
our hearts and minds.
As an 80-year-old who was too naive to understand
the injustices that prevailed for people of color during
my formative years in the middle of the 20th century, I
am, as Mr. Obama described, a White person who can
no longer accept freedom for myself while witnessing
the subjugation of my fellow Americans. I carry the
haunting memory of a sixth-grader watching as a
young Black boy and girl were removed from a public
swimming pool for no other reason than that they were
the wrong color. I carry the haunting memory of
watching Black protesters outside Cincinnati’s segre-
gated Coney Island amusement park and not under-
standing why supporting action on the part of White
people was so badly needed.
We are indebted to leaders such as Mr. Lewis and
Mr. Obama who have prevailed on us to fight for a
more perfect union and to persevere, at the ballot box.
We now know what to do and how to do it.
Bob Mathews , S ilver SpringA moving call to action
Regarding the July 30 news article “Loan to Post-
al Service comes with a big condition,” about the
Postal Service’s borrowing agreement in principle
with the Treasury Department:
Nothing in the agreed-upon terms confers upon
Treasury any role in Postal Service pricing, manage-
ment or strategy. Decisions regarding Postal Service
pricing are reserved by statute to the bipartisan gover-
nors of the Postal Service, who unanimously approved
the Cares Act borrowing terms in a nonpartisan fash-
ion. Nothing in the term sheet alters that responsibility.
In reaching agreement on terms and conditions as
required by the Cares Act, the Postal Service will
provide Treasury with information on our costs, reve-
nue and overall financial position. This includes pro-
viding Treasury with our largest negotiated service
agreements. Providing this is an acknowledgment that
Treasury has been designated by Congress as the
lender for the Postal Service and has a legitimate
interest under certain circumstances in understand-
ing the factors that affect our current and projected
financial positions.
The governors and the postmaster general will
work together to make decisions about all aspects of
the Postal Service based on the exercise of their best
judgment and business acumen, not partisanship, to
ensure that the Postal Service will be financially
sustainable and can continue to be able to provide
prompt, reliable, reasonably priced and efficient uni-
versal service to all American consumers and busi-
nesses as a part of the nation’s critical infrastructure.
Thomas J. Marshall , Washington
The writer is general c ounsel and executive vice
president o f the U.S. Postal Service.USPS remains independent
Regarding the July 31 front-page article
“Trump suggests delaying election”:
Here’s an idea: Instead of delaying the election as
President Trump suggested, why don’t we hold the
election now and end all the crazy stuff much sooner?
Katherine E. Seiferlein , Washington GroveMove the election up
I applaud E.J. Dionne Jr.’s July 30 op-ed, “The
Republican Party proves it cannot govern,” exposing
the dysfunction and divisiveness that has come to
define the Republican Party and paralyze our federal
government. Sadly, and what is far more alarming, is
that regardless of the outcome of November’s elec-
tions, 40 to 50 percent of Americans appear still
prepared to go to the polls this fall — t o endorse this
behavior and the party’s ongoing enablement of an
administration defined by lies, deception, hatred,
racism, greed and authoritarianism.
For what purpose, and to what end? Look in the
mirror, America.
Steve Graul , RestonLook in the mirror
For 16 years, I was a professor of clinical psychology
at the Georgia School of Professional Psychology at
Argosy University. Argosy Atlanta and 22 other
schools closed abruptly in March 2019, when Dream
Center Education Holdings failed. Nearly 10,
students were disrupted and $13 million of financial
aid funds was spent illegally. “Dream Center Educa-
tion Holdings can’t do that!” a c horus of idealists
chanted. To date, no one has been held accountable.
What happens when lack of oversight, corporate
corruption and a pandemic converge? Students
established in new programs have faced turbulent
transitions to insufficient online courses. Others who
could not continue their education now struggle with
novel-coronavirus-related unemployment. Faculty
members, who faced abrupt job loss last year, now
face unemployment again. Former Argosy students
and faculty continue to suffer the consequences
wrought by a failed institution (whose executives
walked away with millions), and the apparent com-
plicity of the Education Department.
The July 29 Politics & the Nation article “Texts,
emails show DeVos aide’s bid to help failing colleges”
reawakened my rage. Anger is not a p leasant feel-
ing. But it is preferable to the resignation one feels
when violated by a corporation and a complicit
government department that theoretically “can’t do
that” when, in reality, they can — and they did.
Lori R. Muskat , AtlantaNew anger at federal complicity
P
resident Trump cannot make the coronavi-
rus disappear by curtailing testing, despite
his bizarre suggestions otherwise. But he can
make Democrats disappear, politically
speaking, by spoiling the decennial census — the
all-important and heretofore nonpartisan tally of
the U.S. population that determines which states get
how much political representation and where bil-
lions in federal money flow. The Supreme Court
blocked his first effort to skew the count. Now the
White House is trying other means, even as Census
Bureau officials struggle to complete a massive
enumeration during a pandemic.
Recently, Mr. Trump issued an executive order
declaring that only legal residents should count
when census information is used to apportion
House seats to the states. Though possibly illegal
and potentially impossible, given the kind of data
the census collects, the president’s dictum may
nevertheless heighten concerns that Census Bureau
enumerators seek information on immigrants, doc-
umented or undocumented, to harass them, whichcould lead to reduced participation in the count.
Now, NPR reports that the Census Bureau plans to
roll back the date by which it concludes its on-
t he-ground counting, from Oct. 31 to Sept. 30. What
was supposed to be a 10-week, door-to-door process
involving half a million enumerators could be cut by
several weeks, with statistical imputation used to
make educated guesses about how many people live
in hard-to-count areas. Experts warn that imputa-
tion has been used in the past to characterize
perhaps 1 percent of the population, but a shortened
census might require experts to guess at perhaps
10 or 15 percent of the population in some places.
The Census Bureau had a plan to avoid this,
asking Congress, in light of delays caused by
covid-19, to extend the final deadline to deliver its
results by four months, which would have allowed
for door-knocking until the end of October. House
Democrats included the deadline extension in their
most recent coronavirus relief package. But Senate
Republicans did not include it in theirs, and the
New York Times reported Tuesday that WhiteHouse and Commerce Department officials have
been asking Census Bureau officials about imposing
a shorter deadline. Given this administration’s
willingness to politicize and corrupt virtually any
process, it is not hard to see why: A flawed count
would almost certainly help Republicans, because
poor, minority and young Americans tend to be
those undercounted.
Current law obliges the Census Bureau to submit
its final tally by Dec. 31, rather than April of next
year, as Census Bureau officials had asked.
Mr. Trump will still be president in December, giving
him an opportunity to make good on his command
to exclude certain residents from congressional
apportionment, an opportunity he might not have
next April.
Census Bureau officials have been clear: Decem-
ber is an impossible deadline by which to complete
and deliver a responsible count. If Republicans fail
to approve a deadline extension, it will amount to yet
more proof that they want — in fact, need — to cheat
because they cannot win honestly.Mr. Trump’s move to spoil the census
The president would like to make Democrats disappear.
ABCDE
AN INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPER
EDITORIALSTom Toles
is away.I am a manager of a local restaurant. Because of a
recent Virginia Department of Health mandate, I
am required to ask people entering the restaurant
to wear face coverings. Most people are conscien-
tious and will put on a mask or be served outside,
where we also have dining service.
One recent day, a couple came in not wearing
masks. When I asked them if they had masks, the
woman said no and left. I offered to serve the man
outside, to which he replied, “I’m going to order
right the (expletive) here!” I had seven hours left of
a 12-hour shift, and suddenly I was very tired. He
unleashed another string of expletives, intermin-
gled with statements about his “rights” and “the
law.” Only when I threatened to call the police did
he leave. This is becoming a d aily occurrence.
I don’t care whether you believe wearing a face
covering is trampling on your rights. I do care
about keeping my restaurant open and my workers(and myself) employed. If this means I have to
spend day after day being abused, then so be it. I do
have to ask, though, what gives you the right to
berate me for doing my job? What gives you the
right to intimidate my employees, many of them
minors?
No one likes the masks, but we suck it up and do
what we have to do to keep moving forward. Are
you going to move forward with us, or are you going
to continue holding us back? Who’s trampling on
whose rights now?
Kimberly Horton , Warrenton, Va.Who’s trampling on whose rights?
No one likes the masks, but we suck itup and do what we have to do to
keep moving forward.