Murkowski Decries Attacks on Health Care Workers as Alaska Covid Cases Spike: ‘Can We Please Show Some Kindness?’

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) denounced vitriolic harassment and intimidation of health care workers amid a Covid-19 spike in her state.

Some hospitals in Alaska have implemented crisis care standards, meaning that care is being rationed as Covid-19 patients are filling beds.

Speaking on the Senate floor Friday, Murkowski said she was alarmed by the spike in cases in her state.

She read point-by-point through a report about how dire things are, and remarked, “We are a state that has limited capacity. We’ve got a smaller population, obviously, but that also means that we have fewer hospitals. We have more limited means in terms of our ability to care for those who have become very, very sick.”

“It is really maxing out our hospitals to levels that we really just could not have even anticipated could happen.”

Alaska is one of several states where hospitals currently have either limited ICU bed capacity or even zero capacity. Back in August, the head of the Alabama Hospital Association said there were no ICU beds available in the entire state.

Murkowski laid out in stark terms how dire the situation is in Alaska, where “beds are hard to find” and the health care workers are “can’t get enough help.”

Your health care workers are giving every ounce of what they have to be there, to leave their families. They’re worried about everybody but they’re there for us. And they’re doing the best job possible. And some of what we see in return is not the best of America. It’s not the best that Alaskans have to offer.

She brought up the protests at a recent Anchorage Assembly hearing over a proposed mask ordinance. Some of these protesters actually wore yellow Stars of David to evoke a Holocaust comparison to a mask mandate.

Anchorage Mayor Dave Bronson defended them with a rather baffling take that “I think us borrowing that from them is actually a credit to them,” referring to the Jewish people.

He later apologized. In a statement, Bronson said, “I understand that we should not trivialize or compare what happened during the Holocaust to a mask mandate and I want to apologize for any perception that my statements support or compare what happened to the Jewish people in Nazi Germany, that was one of the most evil and darkest times in our world’s history. I should have chosen my words more carefully, and if I offended anyone, I am truly sorry.”

Murkowski slammed anyone making that “shocking” comparison.

She described scenes of “neighbor against neighbor” across the country and health care officials being scorned and “spit upon.”

“Can we please show some kindness to one another at these times of stress?”

State officials in New Hampshire were escorted out of a recent meeting disrupted by protesters, due to safety concerns. This week a Missouri hospital provided its staff with panic buttons after a rise in assaults on employees.

You can watch her full remarks above, via C-SPAN 2.