Letters to the Editor: ‘We want to stay well.’ Readers on masks, the vaccine, Rand Paul.

Masking up — again

Last week the evening news reported that there have been over 1,300 COVID cases in Tokyo since the previous week, and the numbers are rising daily. The alarmed reporter called it a surge.

In the same few hours of newscasts, other reporters said there were over 1,000 new cases in the United States… per hour. Most were the delta variant among the unvaccinated public. Some less serious cases were among the vaccinated public. Locally, 4% of those are in the ICU. Incredibly, in New York City public hospitals, only 40% of healthcare workers have taken the vaccine themselves.

What’s it going to take for people to wake up?

Despite some dirty looks, I have started masking again. As painful as it will be, I must curtail some of the activities I’ve enjoyed since restrictions loosened. That includes frequenting restaurants and businesses.

My “friend bubbles” were also freer in their associations, so even without meaning to, we put each other at risk. Sadly, my ability to trust is eroding.

As for me and my household, we want to stay well.

Meg Boden Lexington

A child’s view

There is a “wishing tree’‘ in the Children’s Garden at the Arboretum in Lexington. The tree has a colorful sleeve/sweater with pockets; kids are encouraged to write their wish and put it in a pocket. I explained this to my four-and-a-half year old daughter and told her she could wish for anything. I expected a request for toys, candy, a puppy, etc. Completely unprompted, she said the following: “I wish all the COVID people would not have COVID and get their shots.” I remain frustrated and anguished that a child can see what adults distort, ignore, and turn a blind eye toward. But, honey, I have never been so proud of you.

Robert Pratt, Lexington

Choices clear

Sen. Rand Paul has certainly made the news recently here in Kentucky for his debate with Dr. Anthony Fauci, and to many of us Kentuckians it is no surprise. Rand Paul frequently discusses his focuses on Kentuckians and the economy, but just as often makes choices and says things that are completely counter to that. If Paul really cared for the health and economy of Kentucky, rather than his own wallet, he would support the science-backed COVID vaccines that are proven to save lives, and push for small rural communities here to be safe and vaccinated. And to further that, if he truly upheld his faith and any possible humanitarian beliefs, he would extend this to helping the world recover through things like the COVAX initiative, helping the U.S. economy as well.

Jillian Shaw, Louisville

‘Death wish’

I wonder why our schools couldn’t have taught millions of graduates to think sufficiently critically enough to understand, when our hospitals appear to be reporting that 95% to 100% of their COVID-19 patients are unvaccinated, that going unvaccinated might as well be a death wish.

John C. Wolff Jr., Lexington

Unshackle police

After reading a recent Herald-Leader article about gangs in Lexington, the Lexington Fayette Urban County Council should immediately stop handcuffing the police and repeal their ill-advised ban on “no knock warrants”.

Arleigh Kerr, Lexington

Odds not good

Herald-Leader columnist John Clay, who authored “Turns out, horse racing isn’t quite dead yet” in a recent Herald-Leader, seems to be missing the forest for the trees. Zoom in closely enough on any line graph with a downward trajectory and you’ll see minute jumps on the y-axis.

Will everyone automatically run from horse racing like a Bob Baffert trainee on scopolamine? No. But once started, an exodus is hard to stop. As The New Yorker reported recently in the article “Can Horse Racing Survive?”: “In the past two decades, the overall national betting handle at racetracks has fallen by nearly 50%. Dozens of tracks have closed. … the number of races and the size of the thoroughbred-foal crop are less than half what they were in 1990.” And that was mostly before, as the publication put it, “[t]he terrible parade of dead horses at Santa Anita.”

As watching animals being beaten and forced to run for our amusement loses its appeal, the buggy whip analogy is all too apropos. The odds are no longer in horse racing’s favor.

Michelle Kretzer, The PETA Foundation, Norfolk, Va.