Discard protective gear in trash, not street No masks on sidewalk
Regarding “Rising tide of discarded PPE a new worry for bay” ( Front Page, Nov. 19): I live in proximity to a hospital. Not long after the shelterinplace orders were announced in March, I began to notice discarded face masks littering my neighborhood streets. Over time, it has only increased along with takeout food containers.
I urge all hospitals in the Bay Area to create an educational program to inform their visitors and staff to properly dispose of their face masks and other personal protective equipment items in trash bins and not trash our streets and waterways.
It’s easy and simple! We must protect our San Francisco Bay and its ecosystem from the impacts of such litter on our wildlife and public health. I’m a member of the San Francisco Baykeeper board and encourage all of you, that when the coast is clear, to join us for our annual coastal and shoreline cleanups.
Jovita Pajarillo, Oakland
Keep bay clear of junk
It takes only a fiveminute walk along San Leandro Bay and Damon Marsh to confirm Kurtis Alexander’s report on trash volume. First, look across the lovely bay waters and observe the ducks and shorebirds resting on their long migrations, and then look at the appalling sight right at your feet. Plastic bags, bottles, bottle caps, Styrofoam, tires, pandemic detritus, you name it, line the water’s edge. The shoreline gets it from all directions; trash washed down from Oakland streets, trash washed in from high tides and trash dumped from nearby homeless camps.
What can we do? Organized cleanups may be on hold, but individuals can still do the job. All you have to do is register with the East Bay Regional Park supervisor at Martin Luther King Jr. Regional Shoreline and sign in when you volunteer. They’ll give you trash bags, a litter stick and gloves. Of course, if trash were discarded in cans where it belongs, we wouldn’t have this problem. Wishful thinking, I guess.
Marjorie Blackwell, Piedmont
We in the Bay Area, unlike many parts of this country, take the pandemic seriously and follow the science. We can see why we need to wear masks, but are we smart enough not to toss them in the street?
Peter Smalley, Berkeley
Reasons for deficiency
Regarding “Sun may help homeless” ( Letters, Nov. 19): Keep the homeless out on the streets? The letter writer is welcome to his opinion that people experiencing homelessness should remain out on the streets in order to keep their vitamin D levels high. However, in case any readers were swayed by his arguments, they should know that only a single report ( not some) showed that 80% of COVID19 patients had vitamin D deficiency.
This report came from a single Spanish hospital with only 216 COVID19 patients. And even if the result is corroborated by larger studies, this would prove correlation, not causation: For example, a host of influences including poverty, poor nutrition and essential worker status could easily cause both vitamin D deficiency, and separately, increased COVID19 exposure.
I’m not convinced that enhanced vitamin D levels is a reason to keep the homeless out of hotels and out on the streets.
Todd Silverstein, San Rafael
Slow down, drivers
The opening of the Great Highway for pedestrian use has been a boon to all San Franciscans during this time of shelter in place and limited mobility. It is a safe and spiritlifting gathering place for family strolls, walkers, bikers, and all stripes of strollers and exercisers. The complaints by Outer Sunset residents about cars speeding through their neighborhoods is legitimate. But that is a separate issue.
Why are traffic laws so rarely enforced in San Francisco? You can easily get a $ 70 fine by staying one minute over the expiration of a parking meter, but speeding and running red lights is ignored. When do you ever see a patrol car pulling over a speeder on Sloat Boulevard going 45 or 50 mph ( despite slow down signs everywhere after several pedestrian deaths)? Never.
How do you expect people to obey traffic laws when there is no enforcement? Please, San Francisco, just reasonably enforce the traffic laws and keep the Great Highway closed to until at least the end of the pandemic.
Mark Sullivan, San Francisco
Denial of reality
For the past four years, many of us have been trying to figure out just how firm a grip President Trump has on the Republicans in Congress. Over the past 10 days, we have found the answer the grip is sufficiently strong to turn all but a few of them into traitors.
There is no other way to describe their refusal to recognize Joe Biden as the presidentelect and to assist him by making a successful transfer of power than to call it treason.
These Republicans are not only endangering our national security, but they are also contributing to tens of thousands of COVID19 deaths that might have been prevented by proper coordination between the existing government agencies and the incoming administration.
Sadly, many people who were elected to be our leaders have chosen instead to be members of a cult that denies reality and threatens to destroy our democracy.
Peter Hanauer, Berkeley