A4 Thursday, OcTOber 1, 2020 The SouThern IllInoISan 00 1 Founded 1893 a Lee enterprises Newspaper 710 N. Illinois carbondale, IL 62901 thesouthern.com/opinions Editorial Board Alee Quick, Local News editor Donna Denson, President and director of Local sales and Marketing Marc Chase, Midwest regional editor For the last six months, our nation has faced the greatest economic and public health challenge in generations. The coronavirus pandemic has upended nearly every aspect of our daily life, testing our resilience, resourcefulness and, frankly, our patience. But throughout these uncertain times, one industry has served as a beacon, always leading us forward: manufacturing. More than 550,000 women and men work on factory floors in Illinois.
While these unsung heroes deserve recognition every day, it is especially important that we thank them for their dedicated and tireless work throughout the month of October, which is recognized as Manufacturing Month. When the pandemic struck Illinois, manufacturers across the state immediately sprang into action, embracing innovation and adapting to our new reality. They invented new technologies to boost testing capacity, including specialized bags that allow coronavirus test samples to be safely shipped to laboratories as well as new rapid coronavirus testing machines to deliver faster results. Facilities that previously produced alcohol for co*cktails switched gears to instead pump out bottles of hand sanitizer. Equipment intended to manufacture automobiles and heavy machinery began churning out face shields by the thousands.
And manufacturers experienced in making clothing and flags became critical to the mass production of personal protective equipment, including masks, gowns and other important items for frontline workers. Coordinating these efforts is the Illinois Association, which co-chairs the Equipment Task Force, a wartime-like effort to increase production and stockpile supplies that has engaged nearly 1,000 participating companies across the state. While we all continue the fight against this invisible enemy, Illinois manufacturers are working to develop, test and distribute coronavirus vaccines and treatments as part of Project Warp Speed, the White House-led effort to end the pandemic. All these extraordinary efforts only add to the amazing work that manufacturers do every day to make our state, nation and world a better place to live. Our manufacturers help ensure our grocery stores are stocked with safe and nutritious food, build our infrastructure, power our homes and businesses, strengthen our communications systems and provide for our defense.
Manufacturing also serves as the backbone of our state and national economy. In Illinois, the manufacturing industry contributes more than $304 billion in annual economic output each year the single largest share of the economy. These are good paying, middle-class jobs that help anchor communities and strengthen families. While the industry remains a powerhouse in Illinois, manufacturers here and across the country are facing the threat of an aging workforce. Over the next decade, it is estimated that 300,000 men and women will abandon factory floors as baby boomers begin to retire.
Manufacturing Month highlights the many amazing opportunities available in the industry, demonstrating to high school and community college students across the state why pursuing a career in the manufacturing industry is right for them. The coronavirus pandemic has shown us why we must continue to invest in younger generations to ensure our factories remain on the cutting edge. Manufacturing workers are innovators and entrepreneurs, creators, makers and dreamers. The innovation and resiliency of manufacturers will not only help resolve this crisis but will also surely lead our economic recovery. Illinois manufacturers represent the best of the best in global manufacturing: diverse, sustainable, high-tech, and moving at the speed of light to address current challenges and shape the future.
worth celebrating not only during Manufacturing Month, but throughout the year. Mark denzler is president and ceO of the Illinois association, a state manufacturing trade association that represents nearly 4,000 companies and facilities. Just last week, the headlines were inescapable.They stemmed from a story in The Atlantic detailing what amounts to the Republican Party plotting a coup. Which is to say, cooking up Electoral College schemes designed to keep Donald Trump in office even if voters turn him out. Even worse, Trump himself explicitly refused to say he would respect the judgment of the electorate.
For a couple days, it dominated the news, this shocking confirmation of our worst fears, the brazen theft of a nation. Again, that was last week. This week, it feels as if all that happened in another lifetime. Now mesmerized by a New York Times report that has Trump paying less in taxes than a part-time worker at a fast-food joint. And his former campaign manager being hospitalized after drunkenly trying to kill himself.
And, oh yes, the first presidential debate. In the Trump era, news moves at the speed of chaos. As a result, our concentration is atomized to the point of nothingness, our ability to pay attention fractured like china. That which should absolutely stop the presses, that which should grab us by the shoulders and shake us like rag dolls, that which should count as a four-alarm fire in the house of democracy, has all the staying power of soap bubbles and dew. Suppose they held a coup and nobody noticed? Well, what would have seemed unthinkable four years ago is anything but in 2020.
Maybe that should tell us something. Indeed, though some of us have been arguing that America is a nation in danger of collapse, a writer named Indi Samarajiva disagrees. He says already there. And he should know. lived through the end of a civil he writes in a new piece on Medium.com.
moved back to Sri Lanka in my twenties, just as the ceasefire fell apart. Do you know what it was like for me? Quite normal. I went to work, I went out, I dated. This is what Americans understand. waiting to get personally punched in the face while ash falls from the sky.
not how it happens. continues Samarajiva, how it happens. Precisely what feeling now. The numbing litany of bad news. The ever-rising outrages.
People suffering, dying and protesting all around you, while you think about dinner. If trying to carry on while people around you die, your society is not collapsing. already fallen One is reminded of the old proverb about the frog in the pot of water. Look at all that now passes for normal: thousands of Americans each week die from a pandemic, formerly apolitical government agencies now serve political needs, so-called militias roam our streets, protests are ordinary, corruption is routine, lies are common, ignorance is every day and now this: Republicans blithely planning a coup. As a result, we live a that grows stranger every day.
We work from home and date on Zoom. Voting now requires an elaborate plan. You know if you can trust the CDC. The American military fires upon peaceful American protesters. Face masks have become fashion statements.
There is something heroic in human adaptability, shaping oneself to a new normal when the old one is destroyed. That which does not bend, after all, breaks. But there is also something to be said for the refusal to adapt when the cause is righteous. And this one is. Trump and his henchmen claim nothing less than the power to reject the will of the people.
To accept that is to accept not just the theft of the nation, but the death of the nation the irrevocability of our collapse. There is a fire in the house of democracy. Let no one adapt to that. Leonard Pitts is a columnist for The Miami herald. his columns include his own opinions and do not necessarily reflect the views, opinion or editorial position of The southern.
readers may contact him via email at miamiherald.com. This editorial was published in the Sept. 27, 2020 edition of The Quincy Herald-Whig. For those who have felt pow-erless as a global pandemic has jolted the economy and disrupted lives, an em- powering suggestion: Get a flu shot. OK, the flu shot itself will not protect against the coronavirus, but it will reduce health risks as the United States approaches the flu season.
By avoiding the flu, those who get a shot have one less contagious disease to worry about. The Centers for Disease Con- trol and Prevention estimates about 400,000 people were hospitalized in the United States for seasonal flu complications last year. Immunizing more people could help preserve hospital beds, staff and medical resources needed for COVID-19 patients this year. Seasonal flu season tends to strain health care systems every year. But 2020 is not just like ev- ery other year.
COVID-19 already has claimed 200,000 American lives in less than seven months. The coronavirus is a respiratory ill- ness, like the flu. However, more than of those who contract COVID-19 have died. far more deadly than influenza. Health officials also say seen initial data sug- gesting that some individuals may come down with a with influenza and the coronavirus.
People battling both ailments would be far sicker. Even after getting a flu shot, everyone should continue to follow the precautions that have been promoted since the coro- navirus was discovered. Everyone should wash their hands, wear a mask, maintain physical distance from other people, avoid unnecessary travel and stay home if sick. These precautions are lifesavers, slowing spread of both the coronavirus and the flu within the Southern Hemi- sphere, where the flu season usually goes from April to Sep- tember. Hygiene and distancing ef- forts intended to reduce the spread of coronavirus trans- mission likely played a role in reducing influenza virus according to an Aug.
31 influenza update from the World Health Organization. A flu vaccine is especially im- portant for older people and those with underlying health conditions. These are the same people who are most vulner- able and need to minimize close interactions with others during an infectious disease pandemic. Cold weather tends to keep more people indoors, and for those who share indoor spaces, especially important to have flu vaccinations. Fortunately, there are many opportunities for those seek- ing flu shots.
Hospitals, clinics and some retail establishments are offering vaccinations at little or no cost. Some drive- thru vaccination clinics make it possible for individuals to roll up a sleeve and get a shot without ever leaving the com- fort of a vehicle. CDC Director Robert Red- field said about of U.S. residents got the flu vaccine last year. His goal this year is for participation.
Not worried about your own health risks? Please get the shot anyway, to help slow the spread of influenza. Other lives are at risk. honor our workers There is a fire in the house of democracy Flu shots can save lives OPINION Letter to the Editor and Guest View policy: Letters and guest opinion pieces must be submitted via email to All submissions should address a current issue and include your name, hometown and telephone number for verification. The Southern does not publish telephone numbers. We reserve the right to edit letters for content or length.
We do not print poetry, libelous material or submissions send en masse to numerous news organizations. News Tips: To report news, call 618-351-5807, our toll-free line at 800-228-0429 or email us at CONTACT YOUR OFFICIALS Gov. J.B. Pritzker Springfield Office of the Governor 207 state house springfield, IL 62706 (217) 782-0244 TTy: (888) 261-3336 Chicago Office of the Governor James r. Thompson center 100 W.
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Paul Schimpf (618) 684-1100 (618) 242-8115 (217) 782-8137 State Rep. Terri Bryant (618) 242-8115 (217) 782-0387 State Rep. Nathan Reitz (618) 282-7284 (217) 782-1018 com State Rep. Dave Severin (618) 440-5090 (217) 782-1051 State Rep. Patrick Windhorst (618) 294-8703 (217) 782-5131 GUEST VIEW ANOTHER VIEW MARK DENZLER LEONARD PITTS.
