"allowing the public to testify on ZOOM instead of having to drive to Annapolis, find a parking place and wait hours in committee rooms was a big victory for ordinary people." .@SenBillFerg #KeepMDSenateVirtual

Maryland’s motto for the new year: prevention and preparation | GUEST COMMENTARY

By JIM ROSAPEPE and JOSELINE PEÑA-MELNYK

FOR THE BALTIMORE SUN |

JAN 22, 2022 AT 5:11 AM

We know from centuries of human history — and two years with COVID — that viruses don’t surrender easily. They morph in unpredictable ways. The plague of the Black Death in 14th Century Europe lasted more than a half dozen years — and reappeared periodically into the 19th Century. There were four waves of the Spanish flu in the early 20th Century.

We’ve already had more than four surges and three significant variants of COVID. Will this winter’s omicron be the last? Not likely.

...Last, all organizations — including health providers, schools, retailers, nursing homes and the legislature — need to embrace, not reject, what we’ve learned from this crisis, both to minimize short-term disruption and, as President Joe Biden says, to build back better. We know that telemedicine, online retail, telework and online education have worked for many. Even in our legislative work, allowing the public to testify on ZOOM instead of having to drive to Annapolis, find a parking place and wait hours in committee rooms was a big victory for ordinary people. It has made our democracy and our families’ health safer. Let’s make it permanent.

Maryland’s motto for the new year: prevention and preparation | GUEST COMMENTARY - Baltimore Sun