We must act now on plastic pollution
It should be apparent to you that the coronavirus crisis will have many mirrored circumstances to that of an impending problem down the road: pollution.
Our response to COVID19 should serve as a lesson to act sooner and more responsibly rather than later to avoid the worst consequences. Singleuse plastics infiltrate our oceans, water and food.
Marine life ingest often bright colored plastic that they mistake for food, it sits indigestible in their stomachs, piling up, causing them to starve to death. The plastic problem reverberates back to us as fish become too poisoned to eat and as natural fisheries that we rely on become destabilized.
By the year 2050, there will be more plastic than sea life in our oceans. We need to ban this type of unnecessary plastic use by passing SB54 and AB1080.
Bijan AshtianiEisemann, Santa Cruz
Hypocritical decision
California’s fight against COVID19 has been a valiant one; I wholeheartedly support the sacrifices required by shelter in place. However, I ask Gov. Gavin Newsom for consistency in his treatment of outdoor activities, most notably with his recent push to close beaches to surfing.
Shelterinplace has exemptions related to activity and exercise but why is running, walking or biking any different than surfing? The surfing lineup at Ocean Beach is hardly as dense as the running path on Marina Green in the afternoon.
Furthermore, the argument against surfing because it puts health workers in danger is hypocritical given the allowance of road biking, which claims more hospitalizations than surfing. I understand the need for sacrifice, and if closing the beaches are necessary to stop people from dying, then I will lay down my board and hang my suit eagerly. However, the hypocrisy in the decision to close this but open that is what leads to frustration.
In this time, we can all benefit from the mental mantra that lingers on the sandbars from Lincoln Way to Sloat Boulevard.
Adam Pellegrini, San Francisco
Focus on primary goal
Bay Area health officers are adding unnecessary preconditions for stepping back from shelterinplace orders. Keeping hospitalized coronavirus infections at or below 50% of the hospital capacity is appropriate, but we should stay focused narrowly on this endpoint and do this in the least restrictive and costly way possible.
This can be done by titrating policies specifically to hospital admission rates and local carrying capacity for COVID19 care (e.g. dedicated 50% of acute care beds).
Hospitals should be working and acting as a regional whole under mutual support agreements. Early warning indicators like daily case rates and emergency room visits can now be correlated with hospital demand. Arbitrary numbers for testing are not warranted. Increased testing and contact tracing is essential for highrisk populations and caregivers, but achieving our primary goal does not require universal testing and contact tracing in all places.
Rajiv Bhatia, Menlo Park
An emergency situation
Anyone who has raised or cared for a toddler when told “no” recognizes the behavior of the shelterathome protesters about going to the beach. These orders are not an affront to anyone’s constitutional rights. They are emergency public health decisions.
Such declared emergencies can, and should, take precedence over shortterm, meaningless desires or personal recreation.
Bruce Kraus, San Francisco
Pause on payment date
Regarding “S.F. limbo on when property taxes due” (Business, May 1): Why are landlords still forced to pay property taxes if they can’t receive any income from their tenants?
The city of San Francisco and the surrounding counties are just greedy if they are attempting to force landlords and homeowners to pay property taxes during this time. Property taxes should be due when the economy reopens and people return to their jobs.
Ben Malin, San Francisco
Real leadership on guns
Last week, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada announced that effective immediately, the sale of assaultstyle weapons in that nation will be banned. Unlike our president, Trudeau is putting his money where his mouth is.
Al Comolli, Millbrae