Some positives that are coming out of the coronavirus (Opinion)

With colleges closing for extended spring breaks or the rest of the semester and some local school districts planning on shutting down and engaging in distance learning, it makes you wonder... If this can be done so easily and quickly, why aren't we doing it more widely? Other businesses and industries have cut huge costs in travel and infrastructure by taking advantage of modern technology and doing a whole variety of business online. We can do it with education too. We already do, but in a fraction of the amount we can.

Think of all of the costs you'd save in transportation, utilities, building maintenance. Not to mention the enormous costs in administration and redundancy. Maybe some eyes will be opened and we can save a ton in our property taxes and the insane cost of college tuition. That's just a dream that will probably not come true in New Jersey in our lifetimes.

But the real eye-opener is the fact that so many of our pharmaceuticals and medical supplies come from China. Sure it's cheaper to produce there, where wages are low and the population is captive to a communist regime. No one paid enough attention to it, until the s*** hit the fan with this latest pandemic, which not only started in China, but was mishandled by a country that is not know for its transparency or honesty.

It's time to bring a lot of what was developed here back to being made here. With President Trump's hard line stance on trade and tariffs, alternate supply chains have already been explored for some goods. But medicine? We are absolutely at their mercy if we don't change things and soon. Even if it costs a bit more, it's time to bring that stuff home. With even more speed and urgency than we're bringing our kids home from Europe or local college campuses!

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