We can learn from our past
Do the math!
The 1918-1919 flu epidemic in the United States resulted in almost 675,000 deaths in a population of 103 million. The deaths constituted .065% of the population.
No vaccine was available. People were advised to wear masks, and in some places masks were mandated by law. Many people refused to wear masks, asserting personal freedom and other reasons.
COVID can be spread when no symptoms are present, and so far more than 225,000 have died. Over 8 million have tested positive for COVID. No vaccine is yet available. The U.S population is now 331 million. If the previous death rate applies, over 675,000 would die.
Even if you object to the precautions, doesn’t it make sense to wear a mask, wash hands, maintain social distance and isolate upon travel or feeling ill to help preserve that many lives?
People are also reading…
Gordon Beggs
East side
Safe bike riding is up to bikers
Re: the Oct. 18 letter “Pedestrians need to wear bright clothing.”
Great letter to the editor, but it doesn’t go far enough. I remember moving to Tucson years ago. I had never seen so many reported bike fatalities (thanks, Arizona Daily Star). When I ride the popular Rillito Trail, almost everyone (many of these are regular bikers) is wearing a helmet. On the busy streets and bike lanes of Tucson I see few of the riders wearing helmets.
I frequently see bicyclists riding on the sidewalks (often next to a bike lane) and sometimes bicyclists in the bike lanes riding against the traffic. Bicyclists must pay attention to the same rules drivers follow. Drivers tend to look for oncoming traffic, and they aren’t always looking for people riding against the traffic on a sidewalk or a bike lane.
I see riders at night with no bike lights. Tucson is a great city for bike riding. Bicyclists (myself included) must make this a safer city for everyone!
Kenneth Cohn
Northwest side
Military votes being discounted
The U.S. Supreme Court’s conservative majority 5-3 decision that absentee ballots in Wisconsin can be counted only if received by election day is hypocritical. It seems the U.S. Supreme Court conservatives and President Trump want to disenfranchise the military.
Take Florida in 2000, for instance, since Associate Justice Brett Kavanaugh used it in his concurring opinion. Over 2,000 military votes did not have postmarks or were postmarked before the election date but received afterwards. When Democrats tried to have these votes thrown out per Florida law, Presidential Republican candidate George W. Bush’s advisor, the late James Baker, said, “Here we have these brave men and women serving overseas. And the postmark on their ballots is one day late. And you’re going to deny him the right to vote?”
Those military votes were added to Florida’s tally.
Well Mr. Baker, in 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court’s conservative majority, President Trump and today’s Republican Party have said yes to turning their backs to any military ballots received after election day.
Matt Somers
Midtown
Preserve the history at Old Tucson
In January of 1991 the first Gulf War was under way, and I was on my way toward New Orleans and then West toward Arizona. I and a friend of mine enjoyed a great week in the Big Easy a week before Mardi Gras, and headed west out of town just as the early celebrants began to arrive. Three days later we were in the dry heat of Tucson.
I was fascinated by the saguaro cacti in the desert as they climbed the steep mountains. We were both very impressed by Old Tucson when we visited there and had lots of fun going through different scenes from movies and TV series made there. I was very upset when I heard of the fire but encouraged by the rebuild.
Now, it looks like it may be gone for good. I surely hope not! They have water now! Why fold forever? There is a lot of history there, don’t throw it away!
Daniel Petrovich
South side
Kudos to Tucson’s Jewish Community Center
The saying that good things come in threes was never truer than Oct. 25, the date of the Tucson Jewish Community Center’s Sculpture Garden Show opening. The fortuitous drop in temperature made it possible for me to attend this primarily outdoor, socially distanced event, and it gave attendees a release from the lockdown that relentless heat and COVID-19 had imposed these past months. Hearing comments from a few of the artists was an extra treat.
The Sculpture Garden presently houses not only the community center’s permanent collection of over 40 sculptures but winners of this year’s juried art competition. The adjacent Garden of Hope, a more intimate space, has a message of hope next to each sculpture.
As my tour wrapped up, I made a stop at the community center’s indoor art gallery to admire a collection of sculptures and drawings by artist Curt Brill.
Thank you, Tucson Jewish Community Center, for giving the community a chance to temporarily set aside our COVID concerns and uplift our collective soul.
Barbara Russek
North Side
How to tell if you’re in a pandemic
First, you try to spray under your arms the cologne spray sanitizer you made instead of the anti-allergic deodorant spray you use daily. Second, you constantly scan the stores and medical clinics you visit for folks who wear their masks below their noses, and off, or below their chins (Why do they bother all?!). You vow never to visit the clinic again (or at least not for another year)!
Third, you scan the store shelves for cleanser, bleach, towels and wipes (forgetting things like eggs, milk and dog treats). Fourth, you pray every day that your 2-week-old sinus/chest cold will not turn into COVID, because you also have hypertension and asthma. Fifth, you read daily the scientific news for information on the latest vaccines.
Sixth, you pray every day for a safe, healthy and sane country/world to live in! And last, finally, you pray daily for each other!
Janice Campos
Foothills
Ginsburg blew chance to alter high court in 2014
To those lamenting the confirmation of Justice Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court, where were you in 2014? Ruth Bader Ginsburg was fully aware that then President Barack Obama had a Democratically controlled Senate and could have easily replaced her with another liberal justice. With that opportunity and her failing health, she could have graciously retired from the court.
Instead, with the celebrity of media attention, the “Notorious RBG” let her ego control her decision to stay. Any editorials, “sour grapes” whining and anti- Barrett rhetoric are misdirected and six years too late.
Diane T. Nelson
Foothills
Test all off-campus UA students
I appreciate Steve Kozachik’s letter giving us the inside story regarding COVID-19 testing for all off-campus UA students. And I agree with him that any student attending classes on campus needs to be tested and quarantined if positive. I am surprised that some called the idea pandering or unconstitutional.
It is a clear-cut public health matter. Some are worried about “how it will look,” but my question is, how will it look if the virus gets to be even more widespread on campus and in the community leading to a massive shutdown? Or if we have COVID-19-related deaths in the UA community?
Let’s get people tested and wear masks to beat this thing! Don’t want to risk being quarantined? Wear a mask, wash your hands and avoid large, nonessential gatherings.
The University of Arizona is doing a lot of smart things to contain the virus; this testing will make it all pay off.
Tom Anderson
Midtown
Trees can help cool our climate
I was surprised that a group of Tucson residents is seeking a recall of Mayor Regina Romero, in part because of her initiative to plant a million trees. They are worried it might help with climate change. Well, guess what? We’re already in a climate that needs the cooling power of trees. Think about this past summer.
Trees have two important ways of cooling this desert city, and both of them are needed here and now. We all know the value of shade. Still, we might not know that the temperature of the ground under shade can register some 30 degrees Fahrenheit cooler than the ground in full sun.
The second type of cooling is similar to that provided by our swamp coolers. The evaporation of water from the trees’ leaves cools the local air, typically by 6 to 10 degrees Fahrenheit.
With trees around cooling us, I can risk taking my hat off to thank our thoughtful mayor.
Melanie Lenart
Southwest side
Holocaust education needed more than ever
Re: the Oct. 28 article “Arizona Board of Education requires Holocaust studies.”
I am pleased to read that Holocaust education will be mandated in the middle and high school curriculum. I am a retired TUSD teacher and spent over 27 years in middle school education and taught the Holocaust within the social studies curriculum.
The recent lack of Holocaust knowledge was shocking because this part of history is essential in the understanding of relationships among all humanity. I inevitably noticed changes in student behavior during and after teaching this subject. It was definitely a maturing process and changed their interactions with each other.
Meeting former students now, they often relate how important the Holocaust curriculum was to them. Many of my students had the honor of meeting a survivor and hearing the personal stories firsthand. And yet, the survivor(s) always ended their talks on a very positive note hoping that in the future, these things will not repeat themselves.
In today’s world, we can only hope the lessons will be learned.
Nancy Stoler
Northeast side
Respect or no, Trump’s bill is still due
Re: the Oct. 29 letter “Romero should respect Trump.”
The letter writer who criticized Mayor Regina Romero for informing Donald Trump that his campaign still owes the City of Tucson money from a 2016 rally doesn’t get it. Our mayor and other mayors across this land have the same problem with money that is owed to cities for security and traffic, and such. They will never receive a dime, since the Trump organization never pays its debts.
This was well known before this guy came to the Oval Office. He runs around this country on Air Force One, at taxpayer’s expense for rallies that have nothing to do with the job he was elected to do for the American people. It costs millions for that aircraft to take off every time.
For this letter writer to ask the mayor to apologize is absurd. Donald Trump doesn’t even respect the office he has held for four years, much less care about ANY American, other then himself. He cannot deal when a women calls him out.
Jim Mahoney
Sahuarita
