Letters to the editor: Wearing a mask, election result
Effect on schools
How do I impact others? As a middle schooler, I know the impact of simply wearing a mask. The schools are doing the best they can, but there aren’t enough subs, bus drivers, and nurses for schools to stay open. After Boise decided to go all virtual, my teacher started the day by saying he wanted to address the pink elephant in the room. He said that it’s not our fault. We’re doing the best we can, wearing masks, trying to stay 6 feet apart, and washing our hands. Sadly the community spread is far too high for school to continue. We are staying safe at school, others are not. The school barely contributes to the spread, but because staff is quarantined, schools need to close. Even though people are safe at school, too many people are having to stay home on the potential they were exposed. I know we can all agree that a whole day of school online is more than the two hours of screen time recommended daily. I understand it’s not fun to stay home, but please take the precautions to keep others in your community safe.
Keeva O’Neel and Alexandria Putz, Boise
Mask mandate
The time is long overdue for Gov. Little to mandate statewide mask wearing, close the bars and and limit still further the number of people at a gathering or event. I would hope that the governor will find the moral courage and integrity to do what is in the best interest of all the citizens of Idaho in order to crush the pandemic throughout the state. I would also ask the lieutenant-governor, the militia’s and the other right wing kooks; where is the freedom in a pine box?
Thomas C. Monagle, Boise
Wear a mask
During the three-and-a-half years of U.S. involvement in World War II, we suffered just over 405,000 combat deaths, and we were very nearly on our knees. In barely nine months of COVID-19, we have realized 250,000 deaths. If, in World War II, we had lost our young heroes at this rate, we would have surrendered. Our only responsible reaction would have been to surrender. My parents, your parents and grandparents rationed sugar, rationed rubber, rationed bacon, rationed gasoline. They rolled bandages, they recycled rags, everything that could be reused. Sen. Jim Risch can’t even be bothered to wear a mask (per the front page of the Idaho Statesman). In World War II, both political parties showed leadership and we persevered. Risch can’t show leadership, he won’t patriotically follow; he needs to get out of the way.
Be patriots, Idaho, wear your masks.
Terry Mckay, Boise
Masks are not political
Last weekend, while shopping at the Eagle Winco, I was blocked from obtaining an item by a family of 7, all unmasked. They asked me to go on through but they didn’t space out. I waited, and the mother asked me why I was worried, that I had a mask on. I replied that my mask protects them, and that I would hope that they all would wear masks to protect me. One teen said he was tested and was negative. Another teen said, we don’t have symptoms. I replied that 40% of people who have the virus don’t show symptoms. They argued. I walked away and did not retrieve my item.
Gov. Little, our health districts, our county commissioners, our mayors and city councils are failing us. Gov. Little says we can rely on education, that we do not need a statewide mask mandate. But this foundational education about masks and who they benefit is almost non-existent. Many more Idahoans will needlessly die or have lifelong health complications because of this lack of education. Gov. Little, please issue a statewide mask mandate and include a comprehensive education program. This is not political. It’s life and death.
Kent J. Laverty, Boise
Election result
Senator Crapo’s unwillingness to rebuke Trump’s continuing assault on democracy is no different than Governor Little’s unwillingness to impose a statewide mask mandate that will save vulnerable lives. Both are rooted in a pathology that puts party above country and state, and makes heroes out of people like Ammon Bundy and the Idaho Freedom Foundation. It’s too bad Idaho’s politics aren’t played the way baseball is. I’d trade Crapo and Little for one Mitt Romney in a heartbeat.
Douglas Siddoway, Ashton