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We need to know why COVID-19 affects some more than others

From nearly the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak in the United States, it was clear the disease has a racial component. Black Americans have been affected far more severely than whites. Exactly why that is so has not been learned yet. Obviously, getting answers is critical. But blacks are not the only group suffering disproportionately. So are Hispanics. Many Latino communities have been battered by COVID-19, while adjacent white populations have not been hit as hard. As The Associated Press reports, about 65% of the COVID-19 diagnoses in the county around Chattanooga, Tennessee ...

DACA: Congress should support dreamers

The U.S. Supreme Court blocked the Trump administration’s first swing to knock young immigrants off their dreams by ending the DACA program. The president vows round two. Congress should put an end to this bullying. The court determined the administration’s method for ending the DACA program did not meet legal muster, but left the door open for the administration to try again. Chief Justice John Roberts sided with the liberal wing of the court. including Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Elena Kagan, Sonia Sotomayor and Stephen Breyer. In the 5-4 ruling. Roberts argued the Trump ...

Short Takes

Keep your face masks on in crowds THUMBS DOWN: The recent rise of the COVID-19 cases nationwide indicates the threat of the virus is still thriving. Closer to home, it was reported Thursday that an inmate at the Minnesota Correctional Facility in Faribault has died after testing positive for COVID-19 earlier this month. And even closer, last week the Minnesota Department of Health reported a COVID-19 case at Minneota Manor long-term care facility. Minneota Manor officials say the case involved an employee who has now completed a self-quarantine. After a sharp daily increase of cases ...

Another impasse

Republicans in the Minnesota Legislature have been complaining since the middle of May that Governor Tim Walz should end the state of peacetime emergency that he called to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic, and allow the Legislature to have a say in how the state should be responding. The week-long special session that ended Saturday is proof once again that if you have an emergency situation, a committee is no way to get a swift, effective response. The Legislature ended its session after failing to complete its major task of the session, a bonding bill to finance major capital ...

Korean provocation

Some things never change. North Korean dictators’ determination to stay in power by keeping the rest of the world off balance is one of them. For a time, it seemed as if North Korean strongman Kim Jong Un might be altering course from that pursued by his father and grandfather. Kim and U.S. President Donald Trump held what appeared on the surface to be respectful, if not cordial talks. But discussion of Pyongyang’s one-nation arms race came to nothing after U.S. officials refused to grant concessions without productive movement on Kim’s part. Now the dictator has reverted to ...

Sharing the cure

Charity begins at home, especially in safeguarding Americans from COVID-19. But we have a long, praiseworthy record of having big hearts, and now should be no exception to that. Efforts to develop new medicines to treat the symptoms of COVID-19 and to develop vaccines against it have proceeded at a feverish pace. That is true in other developed countries as well as here in the United States. Gratifying success has been reported, both here and in Europe. Still, experts predict vaccines will not be available until early 2021. Once they are put in production, supplies will be ...