Letters to the Editor, Jan. 8
‘Excellent job’ of providing vaccine
I would like to commend Collier County officials for the excellent plan for distributing the COVID vaccine. My wife and I received our first shot Monday at the North Collier soccer park.
There were several county deputies, community service officers, emergency medical workers, county health workers and other county employees directing the flow of cars, and vaccinations. Overall, an excellent job by all Collier County employees.
My only suggestion would be to have portable toilets because you do sit in your car a long time.
Craig Van Schyndle, East Naples
Ask retired nurses to help vaccinate?
As I continue to read about the problems of getting the coronavirus vaccine into the many seniors in Florida, I feel a solution is very simple and has been overlooked by our governor and local authorizes: There are
many thousands of retired registered nurses in this state, many who had Florida licenses. Reactivate their licenses for a short time, provide them with some sort of blanket malpractice insurance and the appropriate personal protective equipment and let them get to work.
Many of us, myself included, have had extensive experience in flu and pneumonia vaccine clinics, in most cases more experience than the pharmacists who now are administering vaccines.
Reactivating nurses also would help alleviate the nursing shortages our local hospitals are facing. Ask us to help and many more will volunteer than are needed, I would bet.
(From a retired registered nurse.)
Barbara Wright, East Naples
Not all Canadians afraid of Naples
As a Canadian, I was dismayed to read the “We are afraid to return to Naples” letter. I’m not sure where the writers are getting their information, but my experience here, since mid-November, has been very positive. People are behaving responsibly, wearing masks and social distancing.
Canada has its own share of “unnecessary COVID cases,” so it’s a bit rich to tell others, “Be responsible.”
Harry Follon, East Naples
Virus-linked lawsuits
Lawsuits have been a problem for Florida over the last decade, and it has only gotten worse. Trial lawyers continue to over-promise big jackpots to find clients for which they can shop for settlements.
Across the state, small businesses are struggling to stay afloat, and now they are being exposed to frivolous, COVID-related lawsuits that threaten to put them out of business. As a businessman, I know how expensive legal fees are, and I also know the toll this pandemic has taken on the business community.
We need to support our business owners and the workers they employ by
doing what Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis and legislators suggest: Pass some sensible COVID-19 legal liability protections before it is too late. Our economy is back on the move in Florida. This is one way to keep it that way.
Jean-Marc Katzeff, East Naples
Call your doctor for shot
While sitting here waiting for the governor to call me with my vaccination date, time and location, I called my primary-care physician. I now have a tentative date that meets the CDC’s criteria for a Phase 1b citizen.
Not sure why you would risk standing in a long line spreading the virus when a little self-reliance would have solved your personal selfishness.
Don Rader, East Naples
Distribute vaccine by birth month?
I suggest using birth months to avert long lines for COVID vaccinations.
Each month has roughly 8% of birthdays (livescience. com). Collier County has about 126,000 people 65 and older (census.gov/quickfacts/colliercountyflorida). So each month, 10,500 in that age group, or roughly 350 a day, could be vaccinated at two or three centers without long lines or mass confusion and anxiety. Birth months could be selected randomly.
This simple method would be better than asking seniors to endure a free-for-all like we read about in Lee County.
David Demers, East Naples
Aid now, but add to national debt?
Trump proposed the $600 “assistance” be increased to $2,000, the House approved it and sent it to the Republican-led Senate. This would increase our national debt by $1 trillion, but if the Senate defeats this increase (in COVID relief), Republicans will be vilified forever by all Americans.
If Republicans pass this increase, they might assist their two candidates running for office in Georgia and thus maintain control over Biden’s future spending. But if Republicans lose control of the Senate, the Democrats will quickly propose $3 trillion or more for new programs, including helping the unemployed and small companies, and every burg, city, county and state will be bailed out of their extravagant largesse.
What is better: $1 trillion in additional debt today or unlimited increases in the national debt in the near future?
John Domenie, Naples