Best medicine now
Wear a mask. Wear a mask. Wear a mask. If you are out in public, wear a mask. Reports from The National Academy of Sciences and The New England Journal of Medicine support the efficacy of mask-wearing in reducing the spread of covid-19. By wearing a mask, you are protecting others. Yes, keep your distance and continue handwashing.
The governor and the state Health Department should be bombarding the airwaves with the importance of wearing a mask. No prescription is needed. No visit to the doctor's office is required. Do you love your mother? Do you love your friends? It is they you are protecting. The Czech Republic has the right motto: "You wear your mask to protect me, I wear my mask to protect you."
We could reduce the severity of the pandemic by wearing a mask. Until a vaccine is available, wearing a mask is probably the best medicine.
JOE JEFFERS
Arkadelphia
Not all can wear mask
I hear you. I understand your concern. As a member of the Arkansas Extension Homemakers, I have helped make masks. The club I am a member of has donated nearly 200 masks.
Because of my health issues, I cannot wear a mask. That does not mean I am violating you or disrespecting you. I have other health issues than this virus. I wash my hands, I use disinfectant and I social distance, and I am very OK with all who wear masks.
So we are not all lost due to some not wearing masks. Our health is important, and we are also good citizens.
Please wear your mask and know we respect you as a good citizen.
MARY ANN VANCE
Morrilton
Inequities intensified
With reports of clearer skies, cleaner air and water, and wildlife reclaiming their territory in parks, there is a strong link being made between the shutdown/slowdown of much of American transportation and use of fossil fuels. Covid-19 has led to these things. But we can't make a "hero" out of this pandemic.
As we enter another month of living with covid-19, an unprecedented (unexpected) natural disaster/public health disaster amplified by human inaction and confusion, we once again see that impacts are being felt disproportionately in communities of color. Once again, I refer to the ravages of climate change, pollution, and environmental degradation.
Pollution is a persistent and pervasive form of social inequity which impacts minority communities disproportionately with environmental stresses and hazards. It is linked to unjust public policies: urban renewal districts, redlining, inner-city highway construction, and the location of power plants in and around communities of color. These policies result in an increase in cardiovascular and respiratory illnesses in low-income and communities of color, which are high risk factors for the virus.
Like climate change, covid-19 exposes and intensifies disparities that derive from a history of systemic racism which has created great gulfs of wealth and access to safety between people of color and white people.
Like covid-19, climate change is a stress multiplier. It applies further pressure on our entire system, but with far greater intensity on vulnerable populations and communities. With this in mind, we must focus on creating climate, economic and public health solutions that shrink racial and social inequities. If we prioritize benefits to vulnerable populations, ultimately these will create positive benefits for society at large. Perhaps this will also bring about an acknowledgement of the long history of racial injustice in our country, of its continued presence, and lead to a greater healing.
ROBERT McAFEE
Hackett
Jefferson's thoughts
Thomas Jefferson was called an atheist by many New England devines. He was generally thought to be a deist. Yet he is quoted by colonial historian Alf Mapp Jr. as saying: "Can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are the gift of God? That they are not to be violated but with his wrath? Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just, that his justice cannot sleep forever ... Amen."
Now if a man of the Enlightenment, one of unquestioned ability, and third president of the U.S. can believe this, why cannot anyone in leadership today voice these opinions?
FRED SAWYER
Little Rock
Editorial on 05/28/2020