Track your mail-in vote
Thank you, USPS
My husband and I received our mail-in ballot on Sept. 26. We completed them right away and put them on the kitchen table to mail two days later. I took our mail ballots to the post office on Park Row Drive on Sept. 28, and they were received by the Harris County Clerk’s Office on Sept. 30. Thanks to harrisvotes.com/tracking I know they will be counted. Thank you, Chris Hollins and the U.S. Postal Service. The new tracking system not only gives you information about receipt of your ballot. Other information includes: date mail ballot application was accepted, date ballot preparation in process and the date ballot sent to voter.
Carol Wheeler, Katy
We need unity
Regarding “Final stretch of 2020 promises more volatility; it’s time for unity,” (B1, Sept. 30): I wish everyone could read Chris Tomlinson’s article concerning the need for unity in our country. In his review of this tumultuous year, he mentions the effects of the coronavirus on all of us in all phases of our lives. Most importantly, he talks about how as Americans we disagree, but that is what makes us strong. So perhaps instead of envisioning one another as the most radical embodiment of our individual belief system, we should remember we are usually just folks who want the best for ourselves and our families. We are all Americans who love this country and we should respect one another and our individual beliefs.
Mary Keith Schultz, Houston
School safety
I believe that it is good that businesses and schools are reopening, but I think that not all schools are doing all the right things to be safe. Yes, they are cleaning door handles, requiring masks and trying to direct student traffic, but there isn’t much social distancing. I am a junior at Stratford High School and have been attending in-person classes for three weeks. From what I see, the rules of social distancing are being taken only as a suggestion. Before school, kids gather in the courtyard and cafeteria and are in close groups of multiple people. Once the bell rings, they all walk side by side to class sometimes bumping into other kids. Once the kids get to class, they are required to wear masks, but some teachers simply don’t enforce the rule when someone takes their mask off. At lunch, kids are seated at tables designed for 12 people seated closely together. The school doesn’t put restrictions on where you can sit, and you don’t wear a mask while eating. When I
go to school, I feel that little is different from last year other than wearing masks.
Will Latiolais, Houston
Trump and COVID-19
Regarding “Trump’s infection might be more than mild,” (A1, Oct. 5): As a hospital doctor, I spend part of my time in the isolation units reserved for COVID-19 patients. Not only are the patients encouraged to wear masks, everyone who comes into that area wears full protective equipment: a regular mask over a tight-fitting N95, eye protection, head covering and a plastic gown with gloves. On leaving the unit, we spray sanitizer on our shoes in case we picked up any virus-laden respiratory fluids from the floor.
Patients stay in that unit until they are well enough to leave the hospital. No passes to go outside and smoke, let alone drive around in a closed vehicle with Secret Service agents. If a patient wants to leave the unit and return, the nurses and hospital security service will explain why that isn’t going to happen.
Donald Trump’s grandstanding limo ride on Sunday made it clear that he doesn’t think that rules made to protect other people apply to him.
Stella Fitzgibbons, MD, TheWoodlands
Correction: In an editorial published Sunday, the city of residence was misstated for Judge Amy Clark Meachum, the Democratic candidate for chief justice of the Texas Supreme Court. She is a longtime resident of Austin.