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Commentary

Poll: Black Marylanders embrace COVID-19 vaccine; rate discrepancies persist
March 12, 2021 -

Vaccine hesitancy among Black Marylanders has plummeted. Sixty percent of Black residents say they will either get a COVID-19 vaccine as soon as they can or indicate they’ve already received at least one dose, according to the most recent Goucher College Poll. That’s the same percentage who said they would not get such a vaccine just five months ago. The causes and public health implications of this dramatic shift are worth considering, as are some potential blind spots of the data. For starters, the drop in hesitancy didn’t just happen, nor can it just be explained simply by the availability of the vaccine.

Read More: Baltimore Sun
Baltimore public works leadership: It’s about performance, not pay
March 12, 2021 -

The cost to replace a water main can run thousands of dollars per foot. Heck, a single backhoe to dig out a faulty drainage pipe might be $75,000, not including the operator’s pay. But all that pales compared to the expense of eliminating sewage overflows from Baltimore’s Back River Wastewater Treatment Plant: The ongoing, court-supervised Headworks Project carries a price tag of $430 million at last check. So, if there’s one thing Baltimore needs desperately, it’s a highly qualified person supervising these concerns. Too much is at stake to consider any other strategy. We need a Tom Brady to quarterback the team.

Read More: Baltimore Sun
School reopening in Montgomery County is a matter of equity
March 12, 2021 -

Minorities in our country, specifically African Americans, have been unfairly treated by the medical establishment for centuries. This long history of abuse and severe lack of trust has exacerbated the equity chasm during the coronavirus pandemic and may make recovery — from medical, economic and educational standpoints — that much harder for our most affected communities.

Read More: Washington Post
People on a video call
Telemedicine flourished amid the pandemic, here’s how to keep it going – and why
March 12, 2021 -

In 2014, the Maryland Health Care Commission (MHCC) issued a comprehensive report, with excellent recommendations to help expand the use of what is known as telemedicine or telehealth. Here’s the basic idea: Since most people have access to smartphones or computers, some aspects of health care can and should go online. This wasn’t a revolutionary notion, given the general migration of most industries, such as retail and travel, to online platforms. Health care had been slow to the game, however, and MHCC noted that in the prior year, only 16 practitioners in the state had submitted telemedicine claims to payers, representing a very small percentage of annual health care visits by Marylanders.

Read More: Baltimore Sun
Want to help Maryland’s youth? Hire more health instructors and stop arguing over common sense legislation
March 11, 2021 -

You may have heard that things are quite different in the operations of this year’s Maryland General Assembly. Yes, there is virtual participation and livestreaming of sessions not experienced before. However, our organization watches all bills that come through session, carefully considering the impact of legislation and reforms affecting gender justice. And from what we’ve seen thus far, our legislators are still subject to distractions by those who do not want to acknowledge the basic rights and realities of our youth.

Read More: Baltimore Sun
Our View: For most, for now, the answer to your COVID questions is, ‘wait your turn’
March 11, 2021 -

As County Commissioner Ed Rothstein and County Health Officer Ed Singer answered COVID-19 questions for more than 90 minutes during a virtual town hall Tuesday, one thing became abundantly clear. No one can understand why they haven’t already been vaccinated. Regardless of age, with or without pre-existing conditions, everyone thinks they have been wronged by being forced to wait. It’s understandable. Telling people to wait their turn for a trip to the buffet or for a Black Friday sale is one thing. Telling them to wait their turn to get a dose of vaccine that could save their life or end a too-long stint of being a prisoner in their own home is a much harder sell.

Read More: Carroll County Times
Stock photo of the Business Man with a credit card by rupixen
Wilford: Maryland’s digital ad tax not only bad policy, it’s fraught with legal problems
March 10, 2021 -

When Maryland’s legislature made the decision last month to override Gov. Larry Hogan’s veto of its digital advertising tax, it was clear that the legislature had pushed the state into legally dubious territory. And sure enough, the state is already facing legal challenges from tech industry trade groups and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The state’s new system will impose a gross receipts tax ranging from 2.5% to 10% on businesses with global revenues exceeding $100 million, so long as they have at least $1 million in advertising revenue within Maryland.

Read More: Baltimore Sun
Rodricks: A data dive on Baltimore homicides shows the need to stop retaliatory violence
March 10, 2021 -

After he sent me another pile of data about violent crime — specifically, an analysis of the Baltimore Police Department’s performance in making arrests in homicides — I wondered why Thiru Vignarajah, former candidate for mayor and Baltimore State’s Attorney, keeps doing this. To get on Fox 45 again? To stay viable as a political candidate for some future office? Why go to the trouble of looking at four years of violent crimes and arrests? That’s heavy work for a private citizen.

Read More: Baltimore Sun
Persad, Largent and Emanuel: Age-based vaccine distribution is not only unethical. It’s also bad health policy.
March 10, 2021 -

Americans are queuing up for coronavirus vaccinations, but some states have started pushing vulnerable residents out of the vaccine line. Maine removed eligibility for all front-line workers and people with high-risk medical conditions, instead basing vaccine access solely on age. (It later restored eligibility for teachers, following the Biden administration’s announcement that it would prioritize them.) Other states, such as Connecticut and Nebraska, have made similar age-focused changes. In Maine and Connecticut, a healthy 50-year-old working from home will be eligible for vaccination, while a 44-year-old front-line worker with diabetes living in a hard-hit community will be turned away.

Read More: Washington Post
Norris: The royal family saga is a mirror of America
March 10, 2021 -

For me, it’s the schadenfreude. American audiences are aghast at the allegations of rejection and racism from the British royals after Sunday night’s blockbuster Oprah Winfrey interview with Harry and Meghan. But if we look closely as we gaze across the ocean — as we peer across the pond — we might see ourselves in that proverbial reflecting pool. The disparate treatment of someone with Black ancestry, the obsession with skin color, the private consternation over bloodlines and mixed marriage. Let’s not pretend that the United States has rid itself of these particular strains of the virus called racism.

Read More: Washington Post

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