Letters to the editor | Sunday, May 10, 2020: Coronavirus cure can’t be rushed
Coronavirus cure won’t come tomorrow
As a retired health care provider and one-time post-doctoral student doing basic biological research, I know that good science takes time. The first successful anti-polio vaccine was approved in 1952, following attempts to make a vaccine since 1935. It took a while to find evidence that untreated periodontal disease affected heart disease and diabetes. Efforts to create an anti-HIV vaccine started in 1984 and we still don’t have one. A drug to treat an aggressive form of breast cancer was approved for use in 1998, after research that began in 1978.
Good science can’t be rushed. Developing safe and effective drugs usually requires years of animal and human testing.
Accordingly, we must use caution when seeking cures or prevention of COVID-19 infections. The current quest for a vaccine must recognize that vaccines may be successful in preventing disease, or sometimes may produce “immune enhancement” which makes the disease worse. Taking shortcuts, or not following the established rules of scientific research, could lead to many false results and harm to patients.
Until scientists say we are safe, following recommendations regarding face masks and social distancing will help to protect ourselves and others from this deadly virus.
Michael A. Clarke, Salida
Some people just don’t care
A covidiot is defined as someone who disregards health and safety guidelines regarding the novel coronavirus. A covidiot doesn’t wear a mask or gloves in public places, and doesn’t practice social distancing. Covidiots seem to be everywhere in Modesto. It’s frightening, not just because covidiots don’t care about their own health; they also don’t care about the health of others. Being symptom-free doesn’t mean there’s no coronavirus infection. An infected covidiot sheds the virus, and is a walking Typhoid Mary.
Our Modesto Farmers Market is becoming a danger zone. The covidiots, many with small children, do not wear masks. They disregard social distancing, and walk right through the 6-foot space that others are trying to maintain. Our grocery stores, with two exceptions, protect their employees with masks and gloves, but don’t fully protect their customers. The two exceptions are Costco and Smart & Final. They protect their employees, and they also protect their customers by requiring them to wear masks before entering the store. It’s unfortunate that other stores and businesses aren’t doing the same.
Buda Kajer-Crain, Modesto
Why are they so thoughtless?
Wearing a mask in public says: “I might be an asymptomatic virus carrier and I don’t want to infect you.” What does not wearing a mask say?
Steve Ringhoff, Modesto
Examining our priorities
Americans need their meat and they need it now. Thank goodness the president of the United States ordered meat packing plants to remain open. Let’s get those CEOs, plant owners and the shareholders out on those assembly lines and get to work. Maybe the president will work a shift, too.
Pamela Wright, Oakdale
Modesto concerts did us proud
By 1950, a determined group provided the finances and subscribers to begin the Modesto Community Concert Association. The first performance was held in the Strand Theater where The Revelers, the most famous male quartet in the world, performed. Over the years, many well-known professional musicians performed in the Modesto High or Downey High auditoriums. When the Gallo Center for the Arts came, the association became a resident company, but the number of subscribers has since declined.
April 19, 2020, was to be the final concert of the association, as we have found we are unable to continue.
While the end of MCCA is sad for many who have worked over the years to bring live performances to the area, we know that we are a far different community today than we were in the 1940s and 1950s. We now have a wealth of live performances every day of the week. Once COVID-19 gets tamed, we will once again be able to enjoy the joy that live performances bring to the human spirit.
We are glad that the proud members of the association have contributed positively to the lives of the people of Modesto. We thank the community for their support for 70 years and know that the resiliency of our arts organizations will help to restore live presentations when the appropriate time comes.
Marsha Waggoner, operations manager, Modesto Community Concert Association
In defense of CVS
Re “For essential employees, work feels like ‘a ticking time bomb’” (Front Page, May 6): I am an employee of CVS distribution center in Patterson of 15 years. I have been working this whole time during the pandemic and some overtime. We are essential workers; we have to get medicine and food out to people who need it.
You’re always going to have those people who are mad at the company because they’d rather sit at home than work for their money.
Since the beginning of this pandemic CVS has implemented new guidelines for us. We have a lot of social distancing. They built a break room in the parking lot so that we are not all bunched up in the break room. They have put sanitizer out. They have supplied us with sanitizing wipes to wipe our stations and equipment down at all times. They are forcing us to wear masks. We wipe all the surfaces down every two hours. We have adjusted our start times so that there are not large groups of people at the time clock.
So yes, CVS is doing their best to keep us safe.
Theresa Leyva, Riverbank
Watching our tax dollars
The news media are concentrating on the coronavirus across the USA and around the world, where it came from and what can stop it. In California there is more happening that we should be hearing. In Sacramento, our state Senate and Assembly representatives are again pushing bills that we should know about.
Assembly Bill 2826 would make it illegal to separate boy and girl toys and clothing in stores. Senate Bill 1004, sponsored by Planned Parenthood, would force insurance companies to hide from parents medical procedures for minor or adult children, including abortion, hormones and sex-change surgery. Assembly Bill 2218 is a LGBT transgender fund of $15 million for facilities that provide sex-change hormones and surgery. Assembly Bill 1973 is another Planned Parenthood-sponsored bill that would prevent providers from charging deductibles for abortion. Assembly Bill 2035 requires social workers to inform 10-year-olds of the rights to birth control and abortion without foster parent approval.
Are these bills supported by the majority or a minority of Californians? If not the majority, then our representatives need to be replaced.
Jerry Couchman, Modesto
Thank you, Medicare Advantage
In light of COVID-19, the great medical benefits I’ve earned as a veteran have become all the more valuable. But they do come with some downsides, including lack of access and options. Thankfully, Medicare Advantage has given me added coverage and the health care options I need.
My time serving in Vietnam has brought a few chronic health issues over time, including a heart condition and diabetes. Medicare Advantage coverage allows me to visit affordable, convenient health care services that are closer than the VA as well as accessing telehealth services during this pandemic.
Medicare Advantage gives me great peace of mind, especially during the ongoing pandemic crisis. I feel safe knowing that if I contract COVID-19 I can be tested and treated at no cost to me. That’s why I implore and thank leaders like Congressman Harder for supporting – and continuing to support – Medicare Advantage plans.
Ed McGrath, Modesto
Modesto streets falling apart
The streets of Modesto are in horrible disrepair. They have raised taxes to maintain the streets, but there seems to be little done to fix them. As you drive around the streets many of the issues are from private contractors doing work. My question is, where is the oversight on these contractors to make sure they return the streets back to a good condition?
Am I the only one who gets tired of getting my wheel alignment messed up? Am I the only one who gets tired of hitting bumps in the road and jarring me and my vehicle? For far too long the citizens of Modesto have let the street issue go and the city of Modesto is not held accountable.
John Herlihy, Modesto
We stay informed with Harder
Even before Congressman Josh Harder was elected to represent us, he made town hall meetings one of the cornerstones of his communication efforts to his constituents.
On April 15, with COVID-19 requiring folks to stay at home, Rep. Harder held a coronavirus telephone town hall via Facebook, where he relayed information about the federal government’s stimulus efforts, unemployment and small business assistance, and his own legislative efforts to help folks through this crisis. Constituents asked many questions, and I was impressed by how knowledgeable and empathetic Josh was in addressing each of them. Harder was also joined by experts from Stanislaus County Workforce Development and the San Joaquin Economic Development Association.
Harder is planning on holding weekly public events during the crisis, serving as a reassuring voice to those who desperately need help. I recommend that everyone “like” Rep. Josh Harder’s Facebook page to keep informed about the efforts our hard-working congressman is making to assure that the Valley isn’t forgotten during this crisis.
Stephen Talbott, Waterford