New York Post - 13.03.2020

New York Post, Friday, March 13, 2020

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he is nuts, asked him to

go outside and fight.

What 77-year-old man

wants to start a fight with

a younger man? You have

to be crazy.

This is the man who is

leading in the quest for

the Democratic nomina-

tion. This is the man who

wants to be president,

and the Democrats still

support him. Are they

nuts? Richard Ketay

Newark, NJ

l Did Uncle Joe really

challenge a hard-hat

worker “to step outside”?

Years ago, unruly kids

were harnessed and teth-

ered by their parents, so

they couldn’t hurt them-

selves.

Maybe Mrs. Biden

should think of getting a

tether to protect this un-

ruly tough guy.Tom Hoy

Bayville

l With each passing day,

Biden proves just how

unfit for the presidency

he is. First he challenged

an 83-year-old man to a

pushup contest.

Then he called a young

woman a “dog-faced

pony soldier.”

This week, he physi-

cally threatened a con-

struction worker for call-

ing him out on gun

rights.

I sincerely doubt that

old Smokey Joe would

have talked so tough if the

Facing Off With Voters:

Biden’s Brash Insults

The Issue: Joe Biden’s confrontation with an auto

worker who asked about his stance on gun control.

l Former Vice President

Joe Biden’s recent con-

frontation with a factory

worker was embar-

rassing (“Joe Blows,”

March 11).

Surrounded by se-

curity, he cursed out

a voter with a vulgar

retort, and then

asked him to step

outside.

He knew full well

his security would

step in immediately.

That is nothing but

bullying. And a lack

of character.

Thomas Sweeney

Hopewell, NJ

l If Biden were an Uber

driver, would he have a

5-star rating? I always

thought good service was

about being nice to your

customers.

Telling a customer he

is “full of s - - t” and call-

ing him names really

doesn’t earn you a 5-star

rating. I doubt it is any

different in politics.

Biden has claimed he

wants to restore dignity

to the presidency. Tell-

ing someone who wants

to ask him a question

that he or she is full of it

or a “lying dog-faced

pony soldier” doesn’t

sound very dignified to

me. Mindy Rader

New City

l I think the Democratic

Party has gone com-

pletely nuts.

The two remaining

candidates for the Dem-

ocratic nomination are

Sen. Bernie Sanders,

who calls himself a so-

cialist, and Joe Biden,

who has a penchant for

gaffes and a suspect

record as senator and

vice president.

This week, a working

man, who may have been

a potential supporter of

Joe Biden, asked a simple

question about the Sec-

ond Amend­ment.

Biden went into a ti-

rade and cursed at this

worker, and to prove that

construction worker

weren’t several inches

shorter than he is and

his Secret Service

agents weren’t around.

Bullies like Biden

resort to physical

threats because they

know they can’t win

on facts.

Take a tip from an

Average Joe, Joe: Peo-

ple who best their

political opponents

do so on the strength

of their arguments,

not because they have

bigger fists or hotter

heads.

Mark Stuart Ellison

Brooklyn

l Whatever is motivating

Biden to be a “tough guy”

is backfiring. He got in a

heated, profane argu-

ment with a hard-hat

worker over gun control.

Last December, he

called a male senior who

made a comment about

his son Hunter’s work

for a Ukraine company

“a liar.”

Not only does it seem

like Biden is in early-

stage dementia, but he is

taking on all comers,

even women and seniors.

Voters are not impressed,

Joe. Bullying is not presi-

dential. Manny Martin

Manhattan

l So this is the best the

Democrats have to offer

— a mentally challenged

candidate, Biden, and a

socialist, Sanders, who

are both lifelong politi-

cians?

When Biden was asked

a legitimate question on

the Second Amend­ment,

he called the citizen to

step outside like he wants

to brawl.

Meanwhile, he has a

Secret Service detail to

protect him. I’d hate to be

on his protection detail.

Dan Gardner

Staten Island

P

resident Trump was prescient in re-

stricting travel to the United States

from China on Jan. 27. And he’s wise to

widen those restrictions again now, as

the coronavirus continues to spread, with

cases continuing to rise exponentially.

Targeting the European Union’s Schen-

gen Area makes sense: These 26 countries

allow free travel within the zone, with no

passport or border control. And one of

them is Italy, the European nation hard-

est-hit — and likely the country with the

most cases outside of China and Iran —

with 15,113 confirmed cases and more than

1,000 deaths.

So shutting off travel from Italy alone

wouldn’t have been enough to stall the

wider spread of COVID-19 within America.

Leaders of other countries in the zone have

warned their citizens to be prepared for the

pandemic: German Chancellor Angela

Merkel expects up to 70 percent of people in

her nation to get the bug.

Trump may have to do more soon. Ireland

and the United Kingdom, while not part of

the Schengen Area, have quite a few cases,

as do South Korea and Japan.

Then there are the mixed messages over

whether US citizens and permanent resi-

dents who test positive will be allowed back

in. On Thursday, Vice President Mike Pence

— the administration point man — said all

Americans will be welcomed home, regard-

less of condition. Trump then contradicted

him, saying those who test positive won’t be.

Trump gets to set policy — but doing it on

the fly is a huge mistake. And it looks like he

should leave all explaining-the-details stuff

to others: His Wednesday night remarks

wound up being misleading about whether

European cargo is banned — it’s not.

The administration needs to get its act to-

gether now, for the good of the nation.

Either way, anyone allowed back needs to

be screened. Banning only some people and

refusing to screen the rest makes no sense if

the worry is travelers bringing back infec-

tious disease. The administration needs to

define — and communicate — its proce-

dures clearly.

G

ov. Cuomo and Mayor de Blasio also

need to work on their communications

— with each other. Tough as it may be,

their actions should show that they’re on the

same page.

Cuomo was right to push organizers to

cancel the St. Patrick’s Day Parade: This is

the wrong time for millions to line a jam-

packed Fifth Avenue. But leaks about the

gov end-running the mayor don’t help

anyone — save the harsh words for pri-

vate discussions.

City Hall insists that its coordination with

the gov’s office is at an all-time high. It

doesn’t look that way.

And, again, it needs to be. With much of

the city’s life shutting down — Broadway,

museums, pro sports — and ever-more peo-

ple telecommuting and so on, no one wants

to see New York’s two top leaders engaged

in some passive-aggressive competition.

Notably, if schools need to close, the

mayor and gov should get on the same page

about it in advance. Same for any restric-

tions on public transportation.

Also on the communication front: Ease up

on the media hits, guys. Radio shows and

TV can air clips from your press conferen-

ces; save the softball interviews (and the

shuttling from one studio to another) for a

time when the city and state aren’t facing a

public-health crisis.

Cuomo and de Blasio have been annoying

and infuriating each other for years now; we

get it. But the feud needs to go on hold for

the duration. Grow up, already.

W

hat first made news as a corona-testing

outrage and nightmare turned out to

have a happy ending — but the tale of

the teacher’s $10,000 bill to not get tested

still holds some important lessons.

As The City reports, Brooklyn teacher

Erin McCarthy went to the emergency room

at NYU Langone Health-Cobble Hill on

March 2 with fever, headaches and chest

symptoms shortly after returning from high-

risk parts of Italy.

Yet she was ineligible for testing: She’s not

elderly and had no other medical issues —

and Italy wasn’t yet on the city’s list of high-

risk countries. Instead, she was simply told

to self-quarantine.

Days later she got the bill: $10,382.96. And

that was for not being tested.

The good news? Her insurer negotiated a

far lower fee; it paid only $2,957.31 and left

McCarthy with just a $75 co-pay. And the

city has since eased restrictions for testing:

She got screened, and doesn’t have the virus.

Insurers nationwide are now waiving cor-

onavirus-test co-pays completely and have

expanded coverage to include the disease.

That’s all great. Yet it’s still vital to ensure

that anyone who truly needs it is tested, re-

gardless of wealth or insurance status. And

barriers for tests shouldn’t be high: As kits

become more available, far better to check

too many possible cases than too few.

If such principles need to be enshrined in

law (and backed with subsidies for those

who can’t afford it), so be it. There’s a clear

and compelling public benefit: More testing

can help contain the virus sooner — saving

lives, curbing medical costs and restoring

economic stability.

Meanwhile, wouldn’t it be nice if medical

providers (especially hospitals) could send

out clear, meaningful bills? If Congress can

agree on anything to improve health care,

forcing better billing is a fine start.

Crisis Communications

No Time for a Feud

To Fight the Bug, Test Away