America will need a new GI bill to help frontline workers in the coronavirus pandemic | Sen. Bob Casey
Originally published in Penn Live on April 14, 2020
Jane, as she prefers to be called to maintain her anonymity, has spent the last weeks on a battlefield, a hospital in Pennsylvania. She says this about her job,
We are currently being instructed to care for probable and very likely COVID-19 patients without N95 masks. N95 masks will only be issued when a COVID-19 patient is positively identified. By that time, we have already been caring for these patients without the necessary safety equipment and precautions.
Masks are being saved and reused. We are being instructed to reuse disposable gowns. Front line caregivers are not being tested. I feel like I’m a soldier being sent to war without a gun or even a helmet to protect me.
She, and those alongside her, have risked their lives to save others. They have worked themselves to the brink of exhaustion. They have stared death in the face, but also worked to save numerous lives. Jane and thousands like her across the nation are health care workers risking their lives to fight the novel coronavirus, COVID-19. While they have not seen combat in the traditional sense, there’s no question that the fight against COVID-19 is a war, and they are at the front line.
When Americans like Jane have made sacrifices on a field of battle, our nation has stepped up to provide for them. As the United States stares down the threat from COVID-19, we must once again do the same for the nurses, doctors and front line medical workers, who are sacrificing so much and saving so many.
While we do not yet have solid statistics on COVID-19 infection rates among American health care workers, we can look to Spain and Italy to get an idea. In Spain, it is estimated that nearly 10,000 health care workers have contracted coronavirus, about 12 percent of all cases nationwide. In Italy, 8,400 health care workers have gotten coronavirus, about nine percent of the country’s total.
In Pennsylvania, five percent of cases so far have been among health care workers. Our health care workers are also at great psychological risk due to exhaustion and mental stress, stigma and fear experienced by those who worry that they may be carriers and social isolation. Many workers have chosen to self-isolate from their families during the crisis so that they do not carry the infection home.
America is resilient, and when faced with extraordinary challenges, our citizens have responded. During World War II, our nation’s young men and women answered the call of duty and carried the country through a difficult time. They were not the only ones who stepped up, of course, just as our health care workers are not they only ones now, but it was the young men and women of the U.S. military deployed around the globe who took on the greatest responsibility, at the greatest risk, and who bore the greatest cost.
From December 1, 1941, through December 31, 1946, 16.1 million personnel served in the U.S. Armed Forces in WWII. There are more than 18 million health care workers in the country, including doctors, nurses, home health aides and more, all of whom are important to the response.
When the difficult victory in World War II was won, we showed our gratitude to the men and women who helped to secure that victory with the GI Bill. In the same way that we demonstrated our gratitude to our service members, we need to begin a conversation about how best to show our thanks to the front line personnel who today are our soldiers in the fight against coronavirus.
We need to plan for their needs in the same way that they are currently meeting the needs of a nation. In short, we need a new GI bill for health care workers returning from their COVID-19 service in the hospitals, health systems and nursing homes of America.
I don’t yet know what those needs will be, nor exactly what a grateful nation should provide in return. Some may benefit from loan forgiveness, others from financial assistance that affords them the opportunity to pursue additional education. Others may need help purchasing homes, or simply fair compensation or hazard pay for months spent in the trenches.
Congress has already passed, and the president has signed into law, three significant pieces of legislation responding to coronavirus. It will almost certainly pass more in the coming months. As it does so, Congress must come together in a bipartisan way and include a new GI bill for our front line health care workers.
During this time of extraordinary need, they are carrying a heavy load for our nation. When the shadow of COVID-19 has passed, the least we can do is show these courageous workers a measure of our gratitude.
