Covid still a threat to vulnerable people
I’m scared. I’m scared for my wife and family. I’m scared for my relatives and friends. I’m scared for myself.
At almost 81 years old with a pre-existing health issue, coming down with the coronavirus would most likely be a death sentence. Dying doesn’t frighten me as much as being on a ventilator and having only a PPE clad healthcare worker to hold my hand. With more than two months of shelter in place behind us and possibly a year or more to go before a vaccine is developed, I worry about the future. A year is a small fraction of a 20-year-old’s expected lifespan.
For an elderly person, it may extend beyond their projected remaining years. Chances are that they may never emerge from sheltering in place. On a more positive note, advances are being made in both developing a treatment that will reduce the severity of a coronavirus infection and in finding a vaccine.
I consider myself and my wife to be lucky. We have each other. We have children to pick up our groceries. We live in a retirement community that practices shelter in place. We have health insurance and a secure retirement income. I am concerned over the poor, the unemployed and the elderly who are not as fortunate. They must not be forgotten.
Charles Rielly
Altamont
Careful not to toss out stimulus card
Recently, I received a business-sized envelope from the “Money Network Cardholder Services” from an address that I didn’t recognize. It reminded me of the many credit card offers that used to come in the mail in the 90s.
“Recycling,” I thought, and did the customary check to see if something plastic had been included and yes, there was a credit-card sized piece of plastic. I proceeded to remove the card, in order to put it in the trash, and recycle the envelope and contents. I was surprised to see that the card had my name embossed and that it was a Visa debit card. Then I read the print on the paper it was attached to: “ Enclosed is your Economic Impact Payment Card,” with the symbol of the Department of the Treasury next to it.
I hope that others aren’t mistaken by the appearance of the envelope, and that they read the attached explanation from the government.
Susan Spring Meggs
Rotterdam
Leaders of past can provide inspiration
I teach a Catholic religious class to ninth graders on the church. The history of the Catholic Church has not been without its blemishes, many strong blemishes. What I try to emphasize from the first to the last class is that if we wish to understand the true spirit of the Catholic Church, we look to the saints, for it is in them that the Holy Ghost has endowed his spirit and it is in them that the message of Jesus is most profoundly announced.
There is a group of individuals that we spend time on in a class every year.
They are Pierre Toussaint; Henriette DeLille; Mary Elizabeth Lange; Augustus Tolton; Julia Greeley and Thea Bowman. God does not disappoint, and these six individuals faced with the prejudice, the racism, the hatred so prevalent of American society overcame such by adopting the message of Jesus. Their lives give hope to blacks and enlightenment to whites and show the true spirit of America.
Peter V. Coffey
Niskayuna
Categories: Letters to the Editor, Opinion
