Right call for masks in school
Thank you Volusia County Schools for making masks optional for children at school. Thank you, Governor Ron DeSantis, for signing ite Parental Rights Act. Extended mask wear can have cumulative effects on carbon retention, drowsiness, headache, fatigue, skin irritation, and microbiological contamination, as reported in the U.S. National Library of Medicine, National Institute of Health, April 2021.
More:Halifax Health breaks COVID-19 hospital stay record for the second day in a row
Some researchers from Canada, Germany, Austria, and Poland have also concluded that wearing masks increases carbon dioxide retention. The WHO (World Health Organization) recommends not wearing a mask while exercising as it can make breathing difficult. Children running around in normal activity? This corresponds to the exercise in my book. My sister’s 4 year old hops into the car after daycare wearing a dirty wet mask. Germ incubator!
More:World Health Organization: Children and Masks
A child wearing a mask no longer benefits from normal communication, assimilation, association, and interaction with adults at school or in shops. I suspect no one leans over and says, “How are you, young man?” They may not even know if someone is smiling at them.
An important socialization skill for all children is missed when they are unable to participate in everyday situations that promote a healthy child and community. The idea that children should wear a mask is unreasonable.
Most children with COVID-19 have mild or no symptoms, and I haven’t seen any evidence that masks are beneficial.
Ro steppe, Port Orange
An odor problem
I am a homeowner in New Smyrna Beach and have enjoyed the day and night life along Flagler Avenue for the ten years we’ve lived here. We saw the return of shops and restaurants as home prices were low and we welcomed the economic boom.
Then came COVID-19 and now we are climbing again because the pandemic has subsided for those who have been vaccinated. But lately my daily walk to the beach and the avenue has become more and more of a smelly affair. Since I live just a few blocks south of Flagler, as I walk down Jessamine Avenue and near County Park I get caught up in the smell of dumpsters and liquid waste on the street behind the stores. When I walk down Flagler the smell is a direct attack as trash cans are often lined up along the sidewalk! I thought that maybe it was just garbage day and the garbage trucks had just left. But I’ve discovered every weekday or weekend day, and it hits us on the way to dinner. A few other people walking near us mentioned the same thing. The smell was particularly bad.
If we want visitors to keep frequenting our avenue, we’d better clean up the garbage liquid on the street and remove more trash!
Anne Snow, New Smyrna Beach
Cruises need to be safe
Due to the spread of the COVID-19 virus, our long-dreamed-up and family cruise to Alaska in 2020 has been postponed to 2021.
Remember when the virus first spread, when you heard these horror stories from passengers who were essentially prisoners on cruise lines due to COVID outbreaks?
When the vaccinations were developed, I was amazed with the extensive support of the Trump administration that it could be done so quickly. We immediately saw it as an opportunity for cruise lines and other industries to get back to work safely. I saw vaccines as a way of bringing our nation and Florida’s economic recovery back to life, so I wrote to Gov DeSantis last year asking him to support vaccination records for certain activities.
I am incredibly disappointed and amazed why he is doing exactly the opposite. Doesn’t he care? I fully support Norwegian Cruise Lines’ policy of requiring proof of vaccination. This is the shipping company on which my family vacation, which has been postponed to 2022, is booked. I don’t go on a cruise ship unless everyone is vaccinated. I don’t want to be on one of those ships that keep being denied port entry because of a COVID outbreak.
If you don’t want to get vaccinated, just don’t go on a cruise. But don’t tell a private company how to run their business if they are just trying to run it safely.
Pat Gertenbach, Ormond Beach
DeSantis is getting scary
St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Kriseman and various environmental groups have urged Governor Ron DeSantis to declare a state of emergency over the red tide in Tampa Bay to cover the cost of the cleanup. DeSantis defended its position not to declare a state of emergency over the red tide, arguing that doing so was unnecessary and could have adverse economic effects on other parts of Florida by deterring tourists.
Shoo tourists away? You don’t think that the boastful DeSantis – without a mask, insisting that no vaccinations have to be proven – could have something to do with the new Delta variant and our decline in tourists? No, he’s still running for president and sending Florida peacekeepers to the Mexican border to demonstrate power! They may not be needed in Florida. So can they be left out in the next budget? If Donald Trump chooses DeSantis as a vice presidential candidate, he’d better not turn his back on his vice president!
John George, Port Orange
Caring means vaxxing
I am at a loss! Everyone I know had loving parents, or at least someone who made sure that, as infants and toddlers, they were vaccinated against various horrific diseases that could injure, debilitate, or kill them.
Now that they are emancipated millennials or even older adults, they refuse to use a vaccine that will protect them from a terrible disease that could injure, debilitate, or kill them. Do you honestly believe that you are invincible? Do you like to play Russian roulette and put yourself and others in danger? Are you even interested? I remain at a loss.
Barbara Lampert, Port Orange
Texas Democrats flee
On July 1, the US Supreme Court ruled that preventing electoral fraud is “a strong and legitimate state interest.” On July 12, Texas Republicans were on the verge of passing statewide electoral reform when House Democrats blocked the law by breaking the quorum and running from their jobs.
The 57 runaways boarded a Miller Lite-equipped private jet and enjoyed maskless frivolity as they fled to Washington, DC, where they were hailed as heroes. In return, the refugees have pressured President Joe Biden and Democratic senators to ignore their filibuster and eliminate the U.S. Senate filibuster in order to pass a national suffrage bill that would replace Texas law with pro-Democracy electoral mandates.
Democrats advocate mask mandates and now six of the maskless runaways are infected with COVID-19 and others exposed to the virus, despite all 57 claiming to be fully vaccinated. This is hard to believe as groundbreaking COVID infections are extremely rare.
Texas Governor Gregg Abbott has pledged to convene special sessions of the legislature pending electoral reform. The 57 Democratic refugees face arrest on their return to Texas.
Dennis L. Breo, New Smyrna Beach
