Editor:
During one of his coronavirus presentations Trump was asked what parents should tell their kids who need to stay home. He said, “Tell them that they should be proud to be Americans.” I told my 3-year old that and she said ”what is an American?” So, I don’t think that helped much.
Larry Etod
Breeze:
Those who believe Trump has no responsibility in this Pandemic are wrong. Trump and his base have treated Covid-19 as a political problem. Covid-19 is a Public Health Problem!
Trump and his administration were warned by world wide scientists in November of 2019 of this problem. Trump called it a “Democratic hoax” and “fake news”. In March, “it’s under control”; add these comments to his more than 10,000+ lies!
The inaction of this Administration has led to more deaths and increased the economic fall out.
This Pandemic has forced our Country to finally expose the weakness of employer based healthcare. I support Biden’s plan to include Medicare as an option as a prelude for Universal Health Care in the US.
We are all in this together; let us vote to make both political and policy changes so we can “Make America Great Again”!
Judith A. Beay
Dear Editor,
As we all see hopeful signs of opening up the Country again, I know there are many people who will think its a bad idea and we should wait until the Covid-19 virus is gone and we have a vaccine or this, that and the other happens first and we’ll all be safe and no one will die again from this terrible plague. Right now we are living in a great Country that has not suffered a food shortage for at least 100 years. That could change if we do not make every effort to safely open up all businesses as soon as reasonably possible. Farms, hardworking farmers and their crews are where the food supply starts. Farmers have been able to provide a surplus of food and livestock products for this Country for decades that, even though you see some shelves empty at the stores now, you can be assured those products are still on their way thanks to the food supply chain that again, starts with farmers.
Without demand for food products from restaurants, schools, colleges, sporting events, hotels, theme parks, cruise ships, concerts, holiday celebrations, etc etc, farmers will not have a big enough market to sell to that allows them to make a profit that sustains their ability to continue to operate. You may have seen the coverage of dairy farmers having to dump milk down the drain or other farmers plowing fields of lettuce back into the ground as demand has dropped significantly with the closer of our entire Country and in fact, the world. What you are not seeing are the grain silos, potato cellars and the many warehouses still full awaiting demand for those and many other farm products. If the demand does not come soon, or at least the signs that it will come soon, Farmers will not have a reason to plant more crops this spring and we could start going down that terrible road of food shortages. Think about this: “The Virus” has taken many lives, but without food, we will lose more lives of all ages than we will have lost to this plague. Let us all be smart, safe, and be very courageous; support the gradual and cautious re-opening of our great Country because doing so will save millions of lives and livelihoods, also – all over the world!
Patty Jenkins
Editor:
We are now in the throws of the Coronavirus Pandemic and the death count grows with alarming regularity for the nation and the world with each passing day. But, we must remind ourselves that, like all pandemics in the past, this will end in time. In 1918 450,000 Americans perished of the Spanish Flu (100,000 in the month of October alone). Our knowledge of viruses and health is many times greater now than a century ago., we shouldn’t expect those kinds of numbers today. Estimates of 60,000 may well be too high as fewer cases than expected are reported. The lockdown has impacted the numbers and bought us time to discover new ways to treat the sickness and excelled work on a vaccine that will control this new influenza. Some have suggested the lockdown should continue on for as long as four to six months. That would reduced the nation to a staggering depression that would pull the whole world into starvation and political ruin. This would be worse than the great Depression of the 1930’s that saw the rise of fascists and stimulated a World War. That would not be a welcome solution. The lockdown will end, in stages, with those at risk staying home, and those who have had the sickness returning to work. The key is in testing. Germany and South Korea has pointed the way in the use of tests and lowering the death rate. I believe, with quick and easy testing, this lockdown and the pandemic could be ended in a month, perhaps as soon as the 5th of May. If it is everyone will have a reason to celibate Cinco de Mayo. The drink of choice? Corona Beer!
Richard Senate
Today’s public figures can no longer write their own speeches or books,
and there is some evidence that they can’t read them either.
~ Gore Vidal
