OPINION

THE MESA TRIBUNE | JANUARY 9, 2022

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How the nation has failed with COVID-19

BY DAVID LEIBOWITZ

Tribune Columnist

If there’s one thing that continues to surprise me about the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s not the death toll of 831,000 and rising, or that we’re approaching Year Three of the presence of the virus in our lives. It’s how poorly we as a nation have handled this public health emergency.

When you grow up believing that you live in an exceptional country – a “shining city on a hill,” to borrow a phrase Ronald Reagan borrowed – it’s tough to see that country put in no better than a solid Dplus performance. Graded generously.

Where have we gone wrong, you ask? I’d cite three major areas of failure: Scientific, journalistic and political. The scientific community performed amazing work creating effective vaccines against COVID-19 at warp speed. Where they’ve fumbled is not at the research level, but where nerds stereotypically stumble – communicating with the rest of us. Some of this is to be expected; science is an evolutionary process, forever reexamining, rethinking. Scientists change their minds constantly, especially studying a virus that itself mutates by the day.

But with COVID-19, the mind-changes have been so many and so radical, vast swaths of the nation seemed to have simply tuned out.

The early days of the pandemic feel quaint now, as does the initial Centers For Disease Control mask guidance from the spring 2020.

“If you are NOT sick,” the CDC told us, “You do not need to wear a facemask unless you are caring for someone who is sick (and they are not able to wear a facemask).”

We’ve traveled a long, twisty road since then. And thousands of news reporters have squawked about it every step of the way. It’s not the local hacks I have much of a problem with, but more the national networks and their style of mixing fact and bloviation.

CNN, Fox, MSNBC and their ilk have treated a public health emergency like Election Night or a war, bouncing between factual reportage and commentary, until even a sophisticated viewer can’t tell the difference.

Then there’s the politicization of the pandemic, using party ID as the metric of truth-telling. To be an independent American watching cable news in 2022 is to be stupefied by how everything – even the basic decision to get a vaccination or wear a mask – is politics today.

Speaking of politics, remember President Trump’s ludicrous “15 days to slow the spread” campaign? That was about 666 days ago. Then we had President Biden’s June 2021 “month of action” that was going to launch a “summer of freedom.” Old Joe was positively giddy come Independence Day, delivering news the nation had nearly reached the goal of 70 percent of adults with at least one vaccination.

“This is one of the greatest achievements in American history, and you, the American people, made it happen,” the President claimed. “We are emerging from one of the darkest years in our nation’s history into a summer of hope and joy.”

I guess summer was nice, at least in comparison to Biden’s recent description of how Omicron would create “a winter of severe illness and death for the unvaccinated – for themselves, their families and the hospitals they’ll soon overwhelm.”

Except now it seems maybe science has changed its mind on Omicron, which you may or may not have and which may or may not kill you. Except the CDC changed its mind on quarantines, shifting from 10 days to five for those with infections. Except you can’t tell if you’re infected because no home COVID-19 tests are in stock at the drugstore and the news says waits are eternal at testing centers. Of course the news also says … blah, blah, blah.

Like I said, a solid grade of D-plus.■

ADOT chief forecasts early end to some I-10 work

BY JOHN HALIKOWSKI

Tribune Guest Writer

The New Year is upon us. It’s a time when many of us set new goals and are optimistic about achieving them. As I look ahead into 2022, I think about all the project goals we at the Arizona Department of Transportation have as we continue to improve our state’s transportation system.

It’s always nice to start off a new year with good news, and here’s some for motorists who travel eastbound on Interstate 10, between Baseline Road and Chandler Boulevard. Expect to see a significant uptick in construction activity in this area early in 2022; and, we anticipate the work in this area to be completed two years earlier than much of the I-10 Broadway Curve Improvement Project - in 2022 rather than in 2024.

ADOT saw value for our customers in working to complete construction on eastbound I-10 between Baseline Road and Chandler Boulevard early in the project.

So, we worked with the developer team that is designing and building the project to make it happen. We recognized the I-10 Broadway Curve Improvement Project will be highly impactful in other areas of I-10, the US 60 (Superstition Freeway) and State Route 143.

Completing this stretch two years before the remainder of the project is one way we’re striving to reduce those impacts for at least some motorists in the 11-mile project area.

The primary work along eastbound I-10 between Baseline Road and Chandler Boulevard is widening on the outside to provide another travel lane.

Crews will work behind the concrete barrier, limiting the need for restrictions or closures that impact drivers. In terms of highway construction, it is relatively “easy” work; yet the payoff for thousands of motorists is tremendous.

Our work south of Baseline Road also includes widening the Guadalupe Road bridge over east and westbound I-10 and improving the Sun Circle Trail crossing for pedestrians, bicyclists and equestrians.

I encourage you to stay up to date on progress of the I-10 Broadway Curve Improvement Project at i10BroadwayCurve. com and #StayAheadOfTheCurve. While you’re there, you can subscribe to receive traffic alerts and project updates by email and learn more about our free project app, The Curve - another valuable resource as construction ramps up.

Thank you all for your patience as we continue to deliver on our commitment to maintaining and improving Arizona’s freeways. In the end, our projects aim to ensure that every one of us gets where we need to be through safe, efficient and reliable transportation. Happy New Year!

John Halikowski is the drector of the Ar-

izona Department of Transportation. ■

21 Arizona is ground zero for illegal immigration

BY JD HAYWORTH Tribune Columnist

The most transformational event in American History continues to unfold, but both media coverage and public understanding of it remain limited in what is supposed to be the “information age.”

For the better part of the last 40y years, with only the quadrennial span from 2017 until 2021 providing a respite, an illegal invasion across our southern border has been conducted. It picked up again in January of last year, following the inauguration of Joe Biden.

Now, it is worse than ever.

And Arizona is “ground zero.” Our nation’s “fiscal New Year’s Day” occurred last Oct. 1 and in the first two months of FY 2022, the Yuma Border Sector bore the brunt of illegal immigration. To say “migrant encounters” with U.S. Customs & Border Protection rose exponentially is putting it mildly. In numerical terms, they increased 2,647 percent from the same period twelve months earlier.

By December, while children in the City of Yuma sang “Santa Claus is Coming to Town,” city officials realized that scores of illegals would precede the Jolly Old Elf. During a five-day stretch early that month, more than 6,000 unauthorized aliens made their way through the city limits; by Dec. 9, the influx forced Mayor Douglas Nicholls to declare a local “state of emergency.”

The mayor’s “Proclamation of Emergency” could be interpreted as an exercise in “diplomatic understatement.”

Perhaps Mayor Nicholls perceived that politically correct language would find favor in the Biden White House, so the document described the “humanitarian crisis and threat of injury, damage, and suffering to persons or property, including to the migrant families temporarily located in the City of Yuma…”

Nice touch, that.

If one thing has become crystal clear in the first year of Joe Biden’s residency at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, it is that he and his administration place a higher emphasis on the well-being of non-citizens than the concerns and complaints of law-abiding, tax-paying citizens.

So the mention of “migrant families” would attract interest from the Biden Bunch. After all, those people will wind up as citizens – and voters – as soon as Ol’ Joe and beleaguered House and Senate Democrats find enough “Open Border Republicans” to enact a total and unconditional amnesty.

And when that happens – if that happens – it would mean complete and abject surrender of our national sovereignty, rejection of our national heritage, and abdication of our capacity for selfgovernance.

Instead, our future would be controlled by “newcomers,” enticed by the promise of unfettered benefits passed along by their new relative, an indulgent “Uncle Sam.”

The political implications are obvious. But this goes far beyond the political equation.

Sadly, in post 9/11 America, politicians of both parties have failed to see this for what it is: a direct threat to our national security and our very survival.

Instead, they mistake it for a political problem to be managed…and exploited.

Sure enough, Gov. Doug Ducey paid a visit to Yuma two days prior to Mayor Nicholls issuing his emergency proclamation. Before the television cameras, backed by state, local, and federal officials, the governor was in fine fettle, at least politically speaking.

“Mr. President, do something, do anything,” he said.

While that press event was taking place, and within view of the tv cameras, some illegal aliens were doing something. They were unlawfully entering our nation.

The date that this contrast between political speech and unlawful action occurred?

Dec. 7. A date that already “lives in infamy” in American History.

Gee…do you think someone is trying to tell us something? ■

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Neuropathy Is Often Misdiagnosed

BY REISHA ZANG PHOENIX –Neuropathy is a condition that involves damage to the nerves in your hands and feet. “Muscle cramping, difficulty walking, burning, tingling, numbness, and pain in the legs or feet are symptoms people living with neuropathy experience on a daily basis,” explains Dr. Kerry Zang, podiatric medical director of CIC Foot & Ankle. “The thing is these symptoms are very similar to those of PAD. They are so similar that in many cases, people are given a diagnosis of neuropathy when in reality it isn’t.”

With a diagnosis of neuropathy often comes a prescription for neurotropic medication. “Medicine isn’t a cure, it’s a way to suppress the symptoms,” says Zang. “The concern with that is if it’s not neuropathy causing the symptoms, the medication may be masking developing, progressive vascular insufficiency allowing PAD, if that’s the root of the problem, to get worse.” It’s important to determine the cause of these neuropathy symptoms, oftentimes it’s PAD (peripheral artery disease). PAD is caused by the buildup of fatty material inside the arteries which hardens into plaque. When this occurs, it limits the amount of blood that passes through the arteries.

“Blood brings oxygen and nutrients to your feet which they need to stay healthy,” explains Zang, “When your feet aren’t getting an adequate supply, they start sending signals.” Those signals include pain, burning, tingling, numbness, or cramping.

The good news is that PAD is treatable. Specialists are able to perform an angiogram which lets them see if disease is present. This minimally invasive procedure is done through a tiny nick in the skin in an office setting. “So, what we do,” explains Dr. Joel Rainwater, MD endovascular specialist, “is go into the bloodstream to find the blockage with imaging guidance. Then with small tools that can go into the smallest arteries, remove the blockage, and restore that blood flow without surgery, without scalpels, without stitches.”

Getting the proper diagnosis is the first step to getting better. “It’s all about finding out what’s causing the problem,” says Zang. “When your feet burn, tingle, or feel numb, it’s your body telling you it needs help, and you should listen. In fact, if you are experiencing any type of discomfort or things just don’t seem right, tell your doctor. The only way we can help is if you let us know you need it.”

If your neuropathy medication is not working, your symptoms may be an indication of another condition.

Quit playing the neuropathy pain game.

NO PAIN DISCOMFORTING PAIN EXCRUCIATING PAIN

MILD PAIN DISTRESSING PAIN

INTENSE PAIN

YES / NO

Do you have difficulty walking without taking a break? Do you have pain, numbness, or cramping in legs or feet? Is your neuropathy treatment not working?

Neuropathy symptoms are very similar to those of PAD. It’s a circulation disorder which can be easily treated in our office without the need for general anesthesia. If you’ve answered “yes” to any of the questions above, call our office today to see how our doctors can help.

(602) 954-0777 cicmedical.com

DR. JOEL RAINWATER / DR. MICHAEL SWITZER / DR. HASSAN MAKKI / DR. KERRY ZANG DR. SHAH ASKARI / DR. DAN SCHULMAN / DR. KIM LEACH / DR. BARRY KAPLAN / DR. JEFF WEISS

Heel Pain Is On The Rise

The weather has a big impact on heel pain. As the days cool down, our activity levels heat up. Going for a walk, playing a round of golf, and hiking are all possible again with the temperature below 100 degrees. But you need to pay attention to your feet. “Getting back to a normal lifestyle can be a shock to your feet, especially to your heels,” says Dr. Shah Askari of CIC Foot & Ankle.

More than two million Americans suffer from plantar fasciitis, a sharp, stabbing, sometimes burning pain in the heel or arch of the foot. It’s anticipated this number will rise as people start taking advantage of better weather.

It typically hurts when first getting up, may lessen after a few steps but always returns. In the past, a cortisone injection was the treatment of choice. “Cortisone manages the pain, but it doesn’t address what’s causing the pain,” explains Askari. Now, treatment focuses on the condition, not just the symptom.

“Regenerative medicine is one of the most promising ways to deal with pain, because it triggers the body to heal,” he explains. “Prolotherapy is an option that uses a natural irritant which starts the healing process.” Growth factor therapy also jump starts and maintains regeneration of new tissues.

In addition, the FDA recently approved cold laser therapy for plantar fasciitis. “Laser treatment is another way to treat heel pain, because it increases circulation, which promotes healing,” says Askari. “It’s all about healing.”