San Francisco ought to preserve its masks mandate till everybody can get booster photographs
Once again, Bay Area public health officials are talking about lifting the mask requirement for indoor use, using hospital admissions levels as the main benchmark. With hospital stays on the decline, it is safe to go without a mask.
But we’ve already seen this film. The numbers are going down, we’re relaxing the restrictions. The numbers are going up again. It seems people have escaped that the reason the numbers were dropping was because we had the restrictions.
Now is not the time to let our vigilance down for a number of reasons: We know that immunity is waning in those who were vaccinated early.
People who have received the Moderna or Johnson & Johnson vaccine cannot yet receive a booster vaccine, and the latter vaccine is less effective than the mRNA versions. Children under the age of 12 cannot be vaccinated yet.
The weather is getting colder and people are relocating their activities indoors. And we don’t know whether another variant is coming up. Wouldn’t it be wiser to at least wait until everyone gets a booster if needed and younger kids can get their injections?
Anne Whetstone, Oakland
Get out of Facebook
Why would anyone trust a company that has its roots in providing college students with a platform to gossip about their classmates, dormitory, and roommates?
Facebook was not born with benevolence in mind, and that will now be apparent to anyone with social skills on social media.
Mark Allendorf, San Mateo
Accommodation for the mentally ill
Regarding “SF Camp Solution Still Elusive” (Front Page, Oct 6), Thanks to Heather Knight for writing the article on the condition of the homeless in San Francisco.
One solution is to focus on building institutional housing for the mentally ill and drug users. The others have to WORK and take care of themselves – go elsewhere if they can’t afford to live here.
Affordable housing isn’t the solution as residents don’t want their traditional single family homes they worked for, punctuated by a two and four unit increase in housing – the city is only 7 miles by 7 miles!
Marilu Donnici, San Francisco
Mute the Blue Angels
Regarding “Ground the Air Show” (letters, October 5th): I fully agree with Ann and Richard Lanzerotti’s letter about the Blue Angels.
We shouldn’t have to endure the noise for days. And what about people who have pets who are scared by the noise? And I wonder about people with post-traumatic stress disorder who might be affected by the noise and the sight of the jets.
Couldn’t the money spent on the Blue Angels, including spending on fuel, be better used?
Brian Baum, San Francisco
Dems have done a lot
Regarding “The Party of Dysfunction” (Letters, Oct 7), I see you published a letter with that rather mundane and meaningless quote from Will Rogers that we have been hearing adore for decades. It wasn’t smart then, and it certainly isn’t now.
Do you mean the party that brought you social security, women’s suffrage, weekends, 40-hour weeks, the New Deal, the GI law, the civil rights law, and the voting law?
This is the same Democratic Party that elected the first black president, and the Democratic Party is the last party to have a budget surplus.
The Democratic Party never attempted a coup to overthrow a presidential election. And there is only one party that denies the effectiveness and necessity of COVID vaccinations and it is not the Democrats. There is something better you can do than post unoriginal and outdated frivolities.
Vinny Vance, South San Francisco
