Recent editorials from Alabama newspapers:
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Oct. 7
The Decatur Daily on Breast Cancer Awareness Month:
Abreast cancer diagnosis doesn’t affect just the patient. It causes sorrow and fear for all the people who know the mother, grandmother, sister or wife confronting the disease.
The statistics on breast cancer are grim. An estimated 276,480 women will be diagnosed with invasive breast cancer this year, and the illness will kill 42,170 women, according to the Susan G. Komen organization. There will be 690 deaths in Alabama from breast cancer in 2020, the American Cancer Society estimates.
Yet, there are positive signs. The Komen organization reports breast cancer mortality declined 40% in the United States from 1989-2016, and that makes efforts such as devoting October to breast cancer awareness important.
Coloring this month pink helps various organizations raise money for research and improved treatment that will help decrease mortality from the illness.
More importantly, having a breast cancer awareness month provides a chance to educate women about how they can lessen the likelihood they’ll get breast cancer but detect it early if they do.
There are some risk factors for breast cancer that are out of a woman’s control, including family history, her gender, age and ethnicity. Most breast cancer is found in women 55 and older, for instance. And women are 100 times more likely to get breast cancer than men.
The American Cancer Society says there are steps a woman should take to reduce her chances of having breast cancer, including:
• Stay physically active. The ACS recommends getting 150 minutes of moderate exercise or 75 minutes of vigorous exercise every week, preferably spread out over several days.
• Limit use of alcohol. Women who drink should consume no more than one alcoholic drink a day, the ACS recommends.
• Stay at a healthy weight. The ACS recommends avoiding weight gain with a proper diet and exercise.
Recommendations for detecting breast cancer vary based on a woman’s risk factors and age, but finding the disease early and getting treatment clearly lead to better outcomes.
The American Cancer Society says women who get regular mammograms are more likely to have their breast cancer found early, less likely to need the most aggressive treatments and more likely to be cured.
The latest recommendations call for women at average risk of breast cancer to consider starting regular mammograms between the ages of 40-44 before getting them annually from 45-54. Women 55 and older may need them only every other year.
So as the weather cools and fall arrives this month, take the opportunity to learn more about breast cancer. Women can make lifestyle changes that make them less vulnerable to the disease. They also can make sure to talk to their medical providers about screening.
All of us can consider donating to an organization or project that helps fight breast cancer, whether it involves research, purchasing new equipment or making detection accessible to those with limited resources.
Think pink in October. Think prevention. Think early detection.
Online: https://www.decaturdaily.com
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Oct. 5
The Dothan Eagle on a referendum in Alabama:
Many Houston County voters have already cast their ballots in the Nov. 3 general election, taking advantage of a temporary change in absentee voting rules in light of the coronavirus epidemic by either mailing their ballots or voting in person at the Circuit Clerk’s office at the Houston County Courthouse.
On the front of the ballot are the races for public office; on the back are seven constitutional amendments - six with statewide application and one that relates only to Houston County, adding a requirement that a probate judge must also be an attorney.
Then there is a puzzling question:
REFERENDUM ELECTION:
Do you favor the adoption of Act 2020-191 of the 2020 Session of the Alabama Legislature? Yes or no?
It’s bad enough that picayune changes and many local acts require an amendment to the state constitution, and that since 1901 Alabama voters have approved 948 and turned back countless others. It’s bad enough that when those proposed amendments get to the ballot, they’re usually written in legalese, leaving many voters without a clear understanding of what’s being asked. It’s bad enough that this practice leaves Alabama with the longest constitution in the world.
But to expect voters to make an informed decision on a question listed only by an Act number is beyond the pale.
Whether by oversight or design, the ballot question is written exactly as the legislation prescribes:
“… The election shall be held in conjunction with the 2020 general election. The question shall be “Do you favor the adoption of Act ___ of the ___Session of the Alabama Legislature? YES NO.”
That’s unfortunate, because Act 2020-191 of the 2020 Session of the Alabama Legislature would provide a much-needed stream of revenue for emergency medical services in Houston County by adding a $5 fee to motor vehicle tags and renewals to be distributed among volunteer and municipal emergency services.
If the lack of description is an error, state officials should reprint the ballots if time allows, and otherwise do everything possible to inform voters of the purpose of the act, including large signs with the pertinent description of the act posted in every polling place in Houston County.
This subterfuge appears to be either a boneheaded mistake or a deliberate obfuscation. Either way, it dooms the measure. Alabamians surely won’t buy a pig in a poke, even if lawmakers who vote on bills without reading them through will.
Online: https://dothaneagle.com
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Oct. 4
The Decatur Daily and The Times Daily on President Donald Trump contracting the coronavirus:
President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump have tested positive for COVID-19.
Trump is not the first world leader to test positive for the novel coronavirus. British Prime Minster Boris Johnson contracted the virus in March and eventually ended up on oxygen in an intensive care unit. In July, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who more than any other world leader downplayed the threat of COVID-19, also contracted the virus.
Both Johnson and Bolsonaro have since recovered, and we wish a speedy and complete recovery to President Trump and the first lady.
The coronavirus doesn’t care who you are. It can infect anyone, high or low. In that respect, it is like the bubonic plague, which struck down both princes and peasants. But COVID-19 is different in how it affects those infected.
Most young people are resilient, while the elderly are at higher risk of complications, hospitalization and death. Obesity is another factor that can make hospitalization more likely and worsen one’s chances of recovery.
Johnson admitted he was “way overweight” when he came down with COVID-19, and credited his doctors with saving his life.
“The reason in the end my body did start to get enough oxygen was because for every second of the night they were watching and they were thinking and they were caring and making the interventions I needed,” the prime minister said after his recovery.
President Trump was tested and diagnosed hours after news became public that one of his advisers, Hope Hicks, had tested positive and was in isolation. The president had just attended a fundraiser with top Republican donors, absent masks and social distancing.
We should note that the White House has taken measures all along to protect the president, requiring testing for people scheduled to meet with him and temperature checks. It doesn’t seem to have taken any steps to protect people from being infected by the president, however, should those measures fail, which they now have.
Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey, to her credit, is taking the coronavirus seriously, even as governors in surrounding states continue not to. Last week, she extended the state’s “safer at home” order through Nov. 8, taking it through Halloween and Election Day.
The safer at home order is not perfect. That is easily seen by all of the area high school athletic teams that have had to reschedule, cancel or forfeit games became some team members or coaches have tested positive for COVID-19. But the mask order and social distancing have helped, and they have eased the load on hospitals.
That becomes all the more important as the season changes and we face not only a COVID resurgence - such as countries in Europe have already seen - but flu season as well.
The precautions we are taking against COVID-19 should also help with flu infections, but that is no excuse not to get a flu shot, which is the best defense.
If hospitals have to deal with a surge of coronavirus cases, the last thing they need is the usual load of flu cases on top of that.
We owe it to ourselves, our families and our neighbors to treat both of these diseases seriously. No one is immune.
Online: https://www.timesdaily.com
Online: https://www.decaturdaily.com
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