- April 26, 2024
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Dear Editor:
In two years Palm Coast Parkway and Belle Terre will be horrible to drive on! The traffic is ridiculous now!
Also, we don’t have enough code enforcers now to enforce the restrictions. What’s going to happen with thousands of more homes? Palm Coast is already starting to look trashy in many neighborhoods.
More water and electric plants? More schools? Did anyone think of these things? Oh, but we have a nice new splash pad! That’s important!
Pat Stasio
Palm Coast
Dear Editor:
The April Fool’s headlines were entertaining as always is. Very creative. But you missed an obvious prank: “City to reduce spending, taxes going down.” This fake news item would have fit right in. Maybe next year.
Charlie Hayes
Palm Coast
Dear Editor:
James Manfre's “My View" should have been printed on the front page in the April Fool’s edition of the Palm Coast Observer, not Page 6. Everyone must read House Bill 1 before coming to a conclusion.
I don't know any Floridian who wants a Portland, Minneapolis, Seattle, etc., disaster in Florida. Many people died in those "peaceful protests.” Those cities were burned and looted, and their businesses were destroyed. This House Bill 1 is to help prevent those outcomes, and not to prevent "real" peaceful protests.
Exaggerating one political side of an issue, and completely ignoring a much worse political side, has unfortunately become commonplace. This kind of obvious creation of division is disgusting, and is not at all helpful in this situation or any other.
Jean Sbertoli
Flagler Beach
Dear Editor:
Have you noticed that the flu seems to be nearly non-existent this year? Even the CDC states that flu activity is unusually low this season.
Has an increase in hand hygiene and properly wearing masks in public decreased flu incidence throughout the 2020-2021 flu season? Yes, I think so!
If wearing masks can reduce the spread of COVID-19, then maybe it can continue to reduce the spread of the flu in the future.
Respiratory droplets are how the flu transmits. This can be directly from person to person, say during a conversation, or from even touching a contaminated surface, like a door handle.
Having a barrier between those respiratory droplets coming from our mouth or our nose and entering the air or landing on door handles will reduce the spread of the virus.
The flu can be contagious three to four days before symptoms even begin. We could be in contact with someone who has the flu and they don’t even know that they are sick.
We are fortunate to have an effective flu vaccine; however, there are many limitations to it. Allergies to components of the vaccine, misinformation about vaccinations, and flu mutations are just a few obstacles we face with the flu vaccine.
So who should continue to wear masks? Everyone! Encouraging everyone to wear a mask in public to overcome some of these obstacles is an effective and simple option.
This public health effort will help vulnerable populations from becoming infected with the flu.
Unfortunately, it is still common for employees to go in to work feeling under the weather, especially here in the United States due to lack of sick leave provided by employers. Wearing masks in public settings would protect the general public from getting infected from these people who are continuing to work even though they may be ill with the flu. And conversely, those who feel sick should also wear a mask to help protect the general public from becoming infected.
The flu claims hundreds of thousands of lives each year and affects many more. Wearing masks in crowded public areas, like the grocery store, concerts, or airplanes, will save lives.
We should all feel a sense of personal responsibility to help reduce the spread of the flu.
Don’t trash that mask yet!
Cara Rotman
Jacksonville
