Response to Nov. 4 Taylor Sealy letter
This letter just repeats more falsehoods about coronavirus in the midst of a pandemic, and it is incredible, with all the factual information available at our fingertips that such falsehoods thrive.
1. Sweden did take few measures in dealing with the virus initially. As a result they had the highest death rate in all of Europe.
2. They do not have a low level of infection, and did not achieve “herd immunity.” This is completely false. In November, Sweden is currently hitting around 4,000 cases a day. The high in June was under 1,800.
3. Masks are effective, as noted by the Director of the CDC and multiple studies conducted which show lower infection rates in. areas with mask mandates. For clarity, try: https://voxeu.org/article/mask-mandates-reduced-spread-covid-19-us.
4. The tests you mentioned DO NOT show particles escape “through” a mask. But somehow not wearing a mask is more effective at stopping particles? You’ll have to explain how that works.
Holding a crowded religious service or a crowded football game or a crowded party does not make a difference. It is the “crowded” part that is the problem, leading to spread of a deadly virus and is not about “American freedoms and civil rights”. Our Founders did not mean for people to die from stupidity while quoting Patrick Henry. The idea that a religious service imparts special immunity from a virus should have been dismissed after the first couple of pastors died after ignoring protective measures to hold services. Stop spreading falsehoods. That letter would get a flag for false dangerous info on social media.
Michael Eaton
Divide
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Mitigation works
Thank you for the Dec. 2 front page article (“Recent fires prove mitigation crucial tool for mountain living”) explaining the critical importance of mitigation. Only a few years after my husband and I retired to Woodland Park we were pre-evacuated for the Waldo Canyon fire. Until then I knew nothing about the dangers of wildfires and treated every tree around my house as a precious part of nature. Ironically, just the week before I had attended a local commemoration of the Hayman Fire and picked up information about Firewise USA. After experiencing the trauma of Waldo Canyon, I revisited this valuable resource and decided to be more proactive. With help from many different people and organizations I learned enough to, not only make my subdivision a Firewise Community, but also spread the word through public events. There are so many excellent resources out there to help both individuals and communities become more knowledgeable about smart choices.
Maybe a public service would be to list some of these with contacts in your paper.
Bonnie Sumner
Woodland Park
Editor’s note: Please visit the website of the National Fire Protection Agency for extensive information about fire mitigation: nfpa.org.
Thanks to all who support the Gold Camp Christmas Holiday Headframe Lighting
The 2020 Gold Camp Christmas Holiday Headframe Lighting annual event is underway; this tradition would not be possible without several individuals and groups who deserve a huge thank you. Their time and effort make the event possible each year. The event is 20 plus years old and is sponsored by Newmont Cripple Creek & Victor, Southern Teller County Focus Group, Cripple Creek Parks and Recreation, and the City of Victor.
This event, which is a self-guided, socially distanced tour, runs Thanksgiving weekend through New Year’s Day, requires several days of preparation in the fall months and hours of volunteer work during the event. Volunteers from Newmont and the STCFG plan the event, place generators and coordinate volunteers to staff the sites that require generators. In addition, volunteers manage several sites that are hard line powered.
Thanks to Newmont management and security folks, who allow access to the mining sites. The mine also donates all the gas, lights, and most of the power for the project. Thanks to Shawn Tomlinson and Jody Keel of Newmont who make this happen every year as well as their helpers this year Robb Gray and Christi Wilhite. Thanks to the mine’s millwrights who help with repairs of the large ornaments.
Thanks to our anonymous donor, who 20 plus years ago donated six generators for this project; thanks to care and maintenance by JET Service, most of them are still running.
Thanks to the Cripple Creek District Museum staff, who keep the Gold Sovereign star lighted and donates power for that. Thanks to the City of Victor whose power lights the Cresson Headframe.
Thanks to the community volunteers who brave the cold, wind and snow to start generators and check power connections: Richard Courson and Lisa McIntosh, Gary Horton, Shawn Tomlinson and Jon Zalewski.
Each year we receive a variety of thanks from locals and visitors alike — everyone who lives and visits here loves seeing the colorful decorations high on the mountains above our towns and, without all of your assistance and support, the holidays around the mining camp would be much darker.
If you are interested in donating to this project or the STCFG’s Trails of Gold, please visit STCFG.com.
Self-guided tour maps of the lighting can also be found at STCFG.com.
Thanks and Happy Holidays to all!
Ruth Zalewski, Southern Teller County Focus Group
Victor
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The fight continues
Nearly one month has passed with little mention in the news of Proposition 115, the protection of the unborn after 22 weeks. In Colorado, it went down in flames by 500,000 votes, and according to 2019 statistics by the Colorado Department of Public Health, 25nmore lives are estimated to be lost every single day. That’s 9,000 a year. Estimates are that 60 million unborn have been aborted since Roe v. Wade in 1973: a staggering number.
Proposition 114 to reintroduce wolves and grow their population in our state passed; yet, Prop 115 did not. I must believe our values have turned completely upside down in Colorado. Presently abortions can legally be performed up until a woman’s full-term. In most other states, the unborn have at least some protections, but not in Colorado. I am not real knowledgeable of Planned Parenthood, but it is funded in part with taxpayer money. Pro Choice ads flooded TV those weeks prior to the election. How were these TV ads funded?
If we adore these little ones just born, their expressions, smiles, tiny fingers and toes, we must continue to fight for those who’ve been developing month after month in the mother’s womb. Their protection is paramount to the sacredness of life. Even though the election is over, this fight must continue. I believe God, our Heavenly Father, is watching with the compassion for those whom he “knit together in the mother’s womb.” (Psalms 139:13) Additional information can be found at Focus on the Family’s See Life 2020 YouTube page: youtu.be/YNe7yfgDTv4.
Douglas Peterson
Woodland Park
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Re: Ensuring long term care residents and caregivers are the first group to receive COVID vaccine
Dear Governors,
Thank you for your leadership in response to this unprecedented health crisis and the action your administrations have undertaken to help nursing homes and assisted living communities protect our residents and dedicated caregivers in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Our long term care residents and staff are now counting on your leadership again to ensure they are prioritized for the initial ‘1a’ distribution of the COVID vaccine in your states.
The American Health Care Association and National Center for Assisted Living (AHCA/NCAL), representing more than 14,000 nursing homes and assisted living communities across the country that provide care to approximately five million people each year, applauded the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), a panel of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), for including long term care residents and staff, both nursing homes and assisted living communities, for the first round of vaccine distribution.
While this recommendation from the CDC panel of leading health experts is non-binding, we ask that your state public health agencies follow this guidance for distributing the vaccine in your state and take it a step further by ensuring long term care residents and caregivers are the first to receive the vaccine given the anticipated initial limited supply.
Prioritizing long term care residents and staffers for the vaccine is crucial given the fact that more than 100,000 long term care residents have died from this virus in the U.S. and our nursing homes are now experiencing the worst outbreak of new cases since last spring with more than 2,000 residents succumbing to this virus each week.
Given the asymptomatic and pre-symptomatic spread of this virus combined with the outbreak of community spread across the U.S., we are extremely hopeful this vaccine will literally be a lifesaver for thousands of residents and expedite the reopening of our facilities to family members and loved ones.
An expediated rollout of the vaccine for our long term care residents and caregivers is vitally important given the level of COVID in our community and in long term care facilities right now. A one-month delay in administering the vaccine at long term care facilities could cost more than 10,000 of our residents their lives. The speed of which states can vaccinate our residents has significant life or death consequences.
The long term care industry, including nursing homes and assisted living communities, urge you to direct your public health agencies to ensure long term care residents and staff are the first group to receive the vaccine within this initial Phase 1a distribution to save as many lives as possible.
We know our collective priority is the wellbeing of our most vulnerable and our health care heroes, and by working together we can protect them through this pandemic.
Mark Parkinson, AHCA/NCAL President & CEO
Scott Tittle, NCAL Executive Director
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