Florida special session, a COVID setback
Once again Gov. Ron DeSantis and his friends in the Florida Legislature continue to ignore science. By passing laws targeting those who stand for masks and vaccines, they are once again not following “evidence-based medicine.” If the governor really cared about the well-being of our communities, then instead of “anti-mask” and “anti-vax” laws, he would be out there finding ways to convince Floridians to get vaccinated and maintain appropriate COVID-19 precautions.
This is the worst time to let our guard down. Europe is in the midst of another surge, despite many countries there with better vaccination rates than ours. On the other hand, Florida, and the United States, is nowhere near the level of vaccination rates that are needed to keep us protected. Unfortunately, what is going on in Europe is a warning to the U.S. This should be the time where our leaders should be doing everything they can to get everyone vaccinated and not promote laws that basically encourage the opposite. It is about time that our medical leaders stand up publicly and support measures to end this pandemic. If they disagree with mandates, come up with another solution.
John F. Rubin, M.D., F.A.C.P., Boca Raton
COVID business precautions make sense
I am retired from a large international corporation. Some years ago that corporation made a business decision that smokers had to pay more for their health insurance than a non-smoker. This was based on how much additional financial burden the company could expect due to that person smoking. That line of thinking seems reasonable.
When a production line is shut down, it adversely affects production and profit. When someone is sick the company still has to pay the employee’s salary and long term disability. I have heard many times from pundits and friends that government agencies should be run more like private companies. It seems to me that it is a good business decision for private businesses and the government to mandate vaccines. If for some reason a company didn’t want to have a vaccine mandate it would make business sense for them to at least start charging non-vaccinated employees more for insurance.
Mike Kalisz, North Palm Beach,
Rittenhouse jury reached correct verdict
The jury in the Kyle Rittenhouse case reached the correct decision. Anyone who researched these events carefully from the start should have arrived at the same conclusion, notwithstanding a politically motivated prosecutor. Rittenhouse was fleeing from dangerous men when he shot them in self defense. How dangerous?
Joseph Rosenbaum was previously charged with 11 counts of child molestation, including rape. In prison, he allegedly assaulted staff using weapons and was considered dangerous even in that tough crowd. Anthony Huber had been arrested multiple times for domestic abuse, as well as another for use of a dangerous weapon. For inexplicable reasons, other than pure partisanship, some media portray these three as heroes and Rittenhouse as the offender. The jury arrived at their decision without being made aware of the backgrounds of these three men. Despite a lot of pressure from many sources, they made the correct decision.
Barry Lubotta, Palm Beach Gardens
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: COVID-19 gets a boost from Gov. Ron DeSantis and Florida Legislature
