Letters to the editor | Sunday, Aug. 1, 2021: Masks in school and COVID vaccines
Politics hurt COVID response
Decisions by the Stanislaus County Board of Supervisors and the Modesto City Schools Board to urge the state of California to lift the mask mandate in elementary schools shows an alarming lack of good judgment.
This Delta variant is real and serious. The county’s public health officer illustrated that fact when she told the Board of Supervisors that the county would be back in the purple tier if the tier system still existed.
You can just forget about “local control,” because the virus is in control. We all need to accept that reality and use our knowledge of how the virus spreads to stop it. That means consistent masking, vaccinations, social distancing and washing. You can’t change reality with opinions, politics or denial. As a nation, we could have had this virus contained months ago, but poor judgment, politics and denial prevented it.
As the virus spreads once again, I pray we don’t start seeing new variants. If we do, I hope our vaccines hold up against them.
Gina Oltman, Hughson
Common (non)sense, unmasked
What is the big deal about wearing face masks?
Parents let kids wear face masks at Halloween and birthday parties. But Kippy will suffer psychological damage wearing a face mask at school?
Why do surgeons wear face masks to do operations? They don’t want to contaminate the patient. Won’t a face mask slow or stop virus spread?
Who in his right mind gets medical advice from politicians? When did a politician come to your door to see how you are doing? My doctor asks me several times a year. He says wear a mask and stay vaccinated.
One can’t absolutely prove immunity, just as one cannot prove a negative. Only when one gets sick does one learn that he is not immune.
In the present pandemic, survival takes common sense. If you don’t wear a face mask in public, you have none. Good luck.
Bruce R. Frohman, Modesto
True patriots get COVID vaccine
During WWII our nation whole-heartedly supported the war effort by giving up things and understanding the sacrifice. The COVID pandemic is the same critical need. COVID is a big war for our country and world.
We need to be patriotic. By being vaccinated we save lives, eliminate huge hospital bills which may bankrupt families and our economies, and prevent our children from potential life-long physical, emotional, and intellectual harm. We have seen the value of polio, MMR, tuberculosis and other vaccines. They have protected our nation and the COVID vaccines will do that for each American family.
May Remsing, Modesto
Vax up, people
Some Eastern holy men use self-immolation as a way to show devotion to their God, and make their point in flames. Some Christians sought martyrdom by proseletyzing nonstop upon unreceptive ears. We call them saints. Others in Guyana were so swept up in a cult of personality that they committed mass suicide and mass murder, poisoning those too young to save themselves.
It’s time we all stopped drinking the Kool-Aid.
Six hundred thousand Americans died of COVID before vaccines became widely available. Twice that many could succumb to the Delta variant, and that’s a tepid estimate, as 95% of new cases are those never vaccinated. Young people are dying in over-crowded hospitals, begging for Pfizer or Moderna doses, only to be told it’s too late. You waited too long. Indecision is killing you, and your loved ones are compromised.
If vaccine refusal is based on political grounds, God help you. This is not a party issue, it’s a health issue. The irony is the political base will be diminished by disease. It’s said the GOP as we knew it is facing extinction, and this kind of thinking might just finish the job.
The vaccine is readily available. No more excuses.
Cheryl Wolford, Oakdale
Replace elephant with lemming
A person of good faith and mature clarity has to wonder what happened to the Grand Old Party and their attachment to an intelligent and communal character like the elephant. The party of pro life has suddenly become the party of death. Since lemmings have a mythical attribute of performing mass suicide, this small rodent would work as a new emblem for the Republican Party. Furthermore, there are no known creatures who indulge in suicide besides humans, so metaphorically, the comparison works when attempting to comprehend the behavior of people who refuse to be vaccinated.
The child who picks up his ball and goes home following a loss is sadly understandable, however, adults who are sore losers and respond by endangering the welfare of all are tragically suicidal characters indeed. And the leader of this tragic charade is a despicable, intellectually numb impersonator of an American patriot, whose narrative is diabolically false and should be easily recognizable.
Clearly, the only way to escape the mask is to vaccinate.
Timothy Buchanan, Modesto
Teach kids healthy living
Re “Confronting COVID with better nutrition and PE in schools” (Page A6, July 27): Kudos to Alessandra Bättig-Taylor for elucidating the relationship between good health and nutrition and exercise. The recipe is simple: If you want to live a longer, healthier life, eat nutritious food and engage in vigorous physical activity on a regular basis. Since our schools are no longer doing it, educate your children through example, feed them healthy food and exercise with them. It will benefit you both in the long term.
John T. Brennan, Oakdale
J Street pedestrian only?
We were proudly hosting an out-of-town visitor for dinner at one of the charming outdoor restaurant parklets that sprung up on J Street during the pandemic. But our experience was marred by the constant flow of cars just feet from the tables — not just regular traffic, but loud muscle cars, modified for maximum volume, racing to the next light as if they were on a freeway. We had to repeatedly pause our conversation until they passed.
It’s great that the city has decided to make the parklets permanent. But it would be much better to close J Street to traffic, at least on weekend nights when other merchants won’t be affected. The idea’s been batted around for years, but it’s way past time to follow the lead of other cities in what a July 16 New York Times essay called “The Simplest Tool for Improving Cities.”
It would cost nothing to put up traffic cones Thursday night and remove them Monday morning. And adjacent K Street is an easier, one-way route through downtown. Now that we have several fresh faces on the City Council, it’s time to make it happen.
Bill Walker, Modesto
How to buy votes
Re “California approves 1st state-funded guaranteed income plan” (Online, July 16): The California Legislature appears to have foreseen the recent article about the Biden administration trying to ascertain how much “free money” it will take to sway voters to vote Democratic when they passed a bill to pay some foster children and pregnant people $1,000 per month to spend however they wish. The article describes a young lady in San Jose who is about 25 years old, is battling anxiety and depression and caring for a 9-year-old brother. She now has a full-time job and is “choosing to save most of what she gets from the Guaranteed Income Program.” She used some of it to buy things for her brother, whose interest in expensive electronics grows as he gets older. And she also used the money for a down payment for a Subaru WRX, a sports sedan that requires premium gasoline.
Isn’t that nice. That story no doubt warms the hearts of all the hard-working parents who see their tax dollars ($35 million per month) going to such vital use as savings accounts, electronics and sports cars.
Wanna bet if that young lady will vote Democratic?
Clifford Nagle, Riverbank