Cut out the plastic utensils
Change default for orders
I’m caught between COVID-19, my commitment to protecting the environment, my desire to support local restaurants and a growing mountain of plastic cutlery, straws, packets of ketchup, soy sauce and relish, and napkins.
Since lockdown began, I’ve been ordering takeout via Uber Eats, DoorDash and Favor to help keep restaurants afloat, flatten the curve and get a break from cooking. Unfortunately, each meal arrives at my home with a bunch of single-use plastic utensils, condiments and napkins.
These unwanted items are not recyclable and will be either burned or buried if I throw them in the trash.
Rather than keeping the status quo in which including all of these items is the default setting, these companies can change their systems to make no single-use additions the default setting for orders.
In fact, Uber Eats has already done it!
Martha Myrick Rogers, Austin
Revisit PPP guidelines
When I applied for my Paycheck Protection Program loan, banks and business owners alike were worried funds would run out quickly, so my initial loan amount was decreased by the bank processing my application.
Fast forward three months, and as we come to the end of the first extension period of PPP, there is still more than a hundred billion dollars left in the fund. Clearly, it’s time for Congress to revisit the guidelines. Congress is currently debating the terms of a second extension to PPP as part of the next stimulus package.
Many business owners like me who applied for loans early on were forced to take smaller loans than we needed and were encouraged to use the loan in a shorttime frame.
PPP was a good first step, but as the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic persist, so must the efforts of our elected officials to support us through this trying time.
While my loan provided some help, business is still slow and there is no end to that in the foreseeable future. One in four business owners expect to go under within the next three months without additional funding.
We need access to a second round of forgivable loans if we are to keep our workers employed and doors open, and I hope to see Congress take action quickly to secure the future of our economy.
Evalyn Shea, Houston
Fall football season
Regarding “UConn becomes first in FBS to cancel football season,” (C6, Aug. 6): We need to decide if we’re truly serious about suppressing the level of COVID-19 infection, or not.
What kind of fantasyland/alternate reality are we living in that we could even be considering allowing a gathering of 55,000 fans for an A&M football game in only one month? Our elected and public health officials should be unequivocally saying that if COVID-19 test positivity and case levels remain anywhere close to what they are now, that such gatherings will be prohibited (including in-person attendance at college, professional and high school football games).
Professional baseball, basketball, hockey and soccer have all wisely opted for not having spectators, and there is no reason football should do otherwise.
European countries in which the infection prevalence is minuscule compared to Texas and most other states are not even contemplating allowing such large in-person gatherings. So let’s decide, are we serious about this, or not?
Paul Massman, Houston