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Police already take
steps to thwart infection
Alas, the anti-police movement has cloaked itself in our noble COVID debate like wolves donning sheep costumes.
Cops have a dangerous and dirty job protecting us. So how do officers protect us from their daily onslaught of highly communicable flesh-eating MRSA, SARS, hepatitis, tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS, and COVID? Police have balanced public trust and public safety with lifesaving science since 1985.
Public panic over police transmission of COVID would be diminished if departments’ simple “Universal Precautions” policy became common knowledge. This refers to avoiding transmission of bodily fluids by creating a barrier through wearing nonporous gloves, fitted masks, goggles, and washing hands.
Sadly, I know beloved officers who have died from COVID. However, our heroic officers receive ongoing training on these life-saving precautions. Police Departments strictly enforce the protections to shield officers (and their loved ones at home) from a myriad of invisible killers.
Mark Clifford
Moraga
Fake transfers take spots
from deserving students
As children head back to school in this era of concerns for social justice and equity, some parents in my Rockridge neighborhood practice their own version of school choice. They do so by providing fraudulent documentation to support residency in Berkeley so that their children can attend Berkeley High School.
This relieves their children of being “accepted or not” at a private high school and them, of the expense of tuition.
While this may not seem like such a big deal, it is, as other less privileged children, whose parents apply legally to transfer to Berkeley, are denied due to space limitations which, of course, the cheating families have taken.
Hopefully, this year Berkeley Unified will allow more space to open up for legitimate transfers by taking action against the offending families. This would also teach their children a valuable lesson about what “social justice” and “equity” really mean.
Anne Hedley
Oakland
Rossmoor needs
more police patrols
Why do the Walnut Creek police no longer patrol in Rossmoor? Rossmoor makes up a very large percentage of the population and taxpayers of the city. Rossmoor needs and should get more traffic patrol as well as general surveillance.
Speeding in Rossmoor is on steroids both by residents and nonresidents. Some consider stop signs a mere suggestion; people are passing vehicles stopped at crosswalks when residents are crossing the street. Twice in recent weeks pedestrians came within feet of being hit by speeding drivers passing illegally when I stopped at crosswalks.
Rossmoor needs and deserves a police presence!
Kit Miller
Walnut Creek
Government within rights
to require police vaccine
The government must be very careful when it decides to limit freedom. It must compare the restrictions with the gains.
Let’s look at the case for forced vaccinations of police. We have lost over 730,000 people in about 2 years due to COVID in the United States – about 1,000 a day, equivalent to about two jumbo jets a day.
In this case, the government has a right to act. The police are public servants, employed by the government, with (often unwelcomed) contact with the public. So, the government properly puts limits on police – what they wear, what courses they take, etc.
Policing is a tough job, and we are all in their debt. I think it would have been more effective to give a bonus to those that are vaccinated, but I think the government is within its rights to impose the restriction.
Cliff Gold
Fremont
Biden deal a sound
investment in future
Re. “Deal seems near on $2T Biden package, though deadline slips,” Page A4, Oct. 23:
Like many others, I’m on the edge of my seat as the budget reconciliation bill negotiations drag on. Will the United States step up and get on track to slash fossil fuel emissions by 50% by 2030 and to net-zero by 2050? House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says the climate change components are “all resolved” – does that mean it’s enough?
Thank you for consistently reporting on climate impacts, most recently the deadly floods and mudslides in Nepal and India.
Those of us who are lucky enough to still be here can invest in the possibility of a future by making sure that our elected leaders know how much we care about climate change. We can adopt a carbon fee and dividend, invest in renewables, regulate methane emissions, etc. – the bottom line is we must hit science-based targets.
Lisa Danz
Fremont
Source: www.mercurynews.com