Letters to the editor: Masks, protests, preparedness
Masks
Grocery chains are running feel-good TV ads thanking their employees for their valuable service. Many stores are requiring their employees to wear masks. However, no big stores are requiring customers to wear masks which is key if they really want to protect their employees and customers. If you enter a store with a mask, you are telling the workers and your fellow human beings that you care about them. Entering without a mask sends the opposite message.
Recent protests about stay-at-home orders, featured protesters without masks and little social distancing. I agree that work is essential. However, if you want to get back to work, wear a mask and come up with ways you can run your business while making it safer for your employees and customers. American businesses are smart. They can pivot. Protesting without solutions does no good because many customers won’t return if you don’t provide a reasonably safe environment.
I would encourage all stores to post “No Mask, No Service” signs. People want to eat or partake of your services and will comply. If you really care about your employees, you will do this.
Kerri Adams, Boise
Protests
Across the country, small groups of well-meaning individuals have protested against what is essentially a government-mandated suspension of economic activity in the US. While most people see the states’ various stay-at-home orders as necessary for everyone’s safety, the protestors do make one valid point: our freedoms must be protected by the ordinary citizens of this country. During times of crisis, such as now, and not long ago in the aftermath of 9/11, the government claimed unprecedented authority over the lives of citizens in the name of public safety. This is legitimate, and in fact, necessary. However, it is up to all of us to ensure that the measures deemed necessary in an emergency don’t become the new norm. Governments — both state and federal — can generally be expected to err on the side of authoritarianism over increased freedom. This isn’t because most politicians are power hungry, but rather because it makes it easier for them to accomplish what they want for the good of the country. The people also need to ensure the government doesn’t overstep the limits written in the Constitution — even in emergencies. Political activity on the part of the voting public is the best defense against authoritarian creep.
John Crow, Boise
Preparedness
In a world where “someone can sneeze in China and you or I can catch a cold the next day,” we are truly all in this together. After a month of staying at home, social-distancing, and wearing a mask in public, I’m getting cabin fever. In many parts of the world, however, people are crammed together and unable to social-distance at all. Approximately 168 million people around the world, half of whom are children, would jump at the chance to avoid the COVID-19 virus.
I was always taught that “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” For a world experiencing a pandemic, that is especially true. Right now, U.S. International Disaster Assistance funding is helping prevent people in places like Syria from contracting and spreading COVID-19.
COVID-19 has shown us that we are all connected. I call on my congressional representatives, Senator Jim Risch, Senator Mike Crapo, and Representative Russ Fulcher, to support strong funding for International Disaster Assistance. It’s up to Congress to protect our nation’s ability to respond to the world’s greatest humanitarian needs and limit their impact on the United States.
Stanley Norman, Ponderay