Regarding the article “A bleak outlook for millions facing cutoff of jobless aid”: Enough is enough — millions of families continue to struggle to put food on the table and pay their rent.

With the covid-19 virus surging again, Sens. Pat Toomey and Bob Casey must pass a robust covid-19 relief package that meets the needs of Pennsylvanians.

New research shows why: More than four in 10 children live in households that are struggling to cover such basic costs as food, rent or mortgage, car payments, medical expenses, or student loans, according to the latest Census data.

But if millions of people facing hunger, eviction or layoffs isn’t enough to convince federal policymakers to deliver a comprehensive relief package, they should consider that the best way to boost the economy is to help those who struggle to make ends meet. That’s because when they get help through unemployment benefits or SNAP, they spend it quickly to meet their needs, thus boosting the economy.

I am counting on Toomey and Casey to fight to get Pennsylvanians the relief we deserve.

Dana Dolney, South Side

The writer is a grassroots organizer for Just Harvest.

Vaccine questions must be answered

As the time approaches for us to get our covid-19 immunization shots, there are reasonable questions the medical and political community need to prepare for. Given the novelty of this particular pandemic, it is understandable that not every question is simple and easy, or even possible to answer in advance. But the volunteering public deserves as much information as is available, even if they have already decided to get immunized.

Some of the questions that require ready answers:

• How soon after my shot can I be certain I’m immune?

• How soon can I resume “normal” activity?

• Can I reassure others that I am not contagious?

• After my shot, can I still carry the disease? If so, what further precautions must I follow?

• Will I be issued an ID card that shows I’ve been vaccinated against covid-19 specifically?

• It’s been a miserably long confinement. Best guess when it will finally end?

Let’s hope the politicians are able to agree on the answers this time around.

Ed Collins, West Newton

Pa. representatives’ participation in lawsuit is shameful

I find it unbelievable that a small group of Pennsylvania state representatives decided to join in the Texas-led lawsuit (thrown out, thank goodness) to invalidate the Electoral College votes of four states, including Pennsylvania.

This same group of lawmakers voted for Act 77 in October 2019. This was the bill that expanded mail-in voting in Pennsylvania, and it was passed in the state House and Senate (both Republican controlled).

Rep. Bud Cook, Rep. Daryl Metcalfe, Sen. Doug Mastriano and all the other shameful legislators who participated in this lawsuit need to be remembered for attempting to subvert the will of the people and to negate legitimate votes. You are one sorry bunch of Trump sycophants.

Bud Cook, you are not acting in my interests, only your own.

Tim Babyak, Perryopolis

Looking at Trump’s accomplishments

Thanks to letter-writer Robert Szypulski for his compilation of Trump “deliverances” (“Thank you, President Trump”). Now to cases in no particular order of importance as space permits:

• “Preserving 180 million employer health plans”: I didn’t know that they were endangered really, but I do know his administration is busily trying to destroy the ACA with its coverage of 20 million insured and guarantees on covering preexisting conditions with bupkis to replace it.

• “Tax cut across all brackets”: Well, some brackets got much better of that deal. Up to 85% of the “cut” went to top brackets and corporations (mostly owned by, you guessed it, top-bracket taxpayers). The impact of the “cut” was to ensure $1 trillion-plus budget deficits in the “best economy ever” as far as could be seen into the future (to be paid for by our lower-bracket descendants).

• “Decimating ISIS”: This project, begun under President Obama, was really carried out by our Kurdish allies, who did most of the hard fighting on the ground resulting in an estimated 11,000 Kurdish dead (more than the U.S. losses in Iraq and Afghanistan combined by nearly 50%). It was Trump who promptly dumped the Kurds once ISIS was subdued.

• “U.S. energy independence”: Trump did not invent or perfect the fracking techniques that resulted in the surge of oil and gas production in this country; that shift was well underway in the Obama administration before his presidency.

The truth takes longer to express than Szypulski’s shorthand list — more next time.

James Kvitkovich, Hempfield

Small sacrifices would have prevented shutdown

It’s shutdown time again, and one more nail will be placed in the coffin of small businesses that have somehow managed to survive this pandemic.

There seems to be some confusion as to why it is again necessary to take this extreme approach. The reason is because some of you cannot follow simple rules and make small sacrifices. In case you are a little slow, you have had nine months to try to understand what is happening in the world. All you have been asked to do by the experts is make a few basic changes: social distance, wear a mask when you can’t, and avoid crowds.

I heard you say the virus would go away after the election. You said it is the same as the flu. I saw you argue with the elderly woman at Walmart when she asked you to wear a mask; you even mocked others for wearing a face covering.

Sadly, some of you consider yourself “pandemic patriots,” maintaining that you have a right to spew your potentially infectious droplets on others. How American of you. If you were around during times of greater sacrifice like World War II, we would be speaking German.

Someone please tell me when “we” became ignorant, self-entitled, selfish, spoiled brats.

Thomas C. Spallone, Hempfield

Masks and political control

With the increases in covid-19, it seems to me that wearing masks has failed to halt the spread of this virus.

Here is an alternative to mask wearing: Take the temperature of each person entering a store, restaurant, bar, club, stadium, funeral home, sports arena or church, and deny entrance to anyone with a temperature of 100.4-plus, which could indicate that he or she is infected. A temperature lower than 100.4 is generally required to enter a hospital or other site for medical tests.

Upon further examination as to why our “leaders” would deny the efficacy of the aforementioned suggestion, let me explain about government control. A business with a capacity of 500 people who are forced to wear masks provides our “leaders” with control of those 500; however, it is quite possible that only 5-10% or less have an unacceptable temperature, the end result being that the maskless have regained control of their lives and the freedom to live free of these uncomfortable non-­functioning political necessities.

I’m one American who is tired of the control by politicians who keep trying the same thing over and over expecting a different result. It’s past time to take control of our lives.

Gene A. Weinfurther, Beaver

Everyone should follow the rules

At our Delmont Borough council meeting Dec. 8, I’ve been told not one member, except the borough solicitor, wore a mask. I attended remotely for safety reasons in accordance with the Pennsylvania Department of Health guidelines regarding indoor meetings.

In recent months, I have been in the minority on my council in regard to wearing a mask. Meetings have been attended by members of the public and reporters. And yet no one says anything about our local elected representatives defying a lawful order made to protect the people they’re supposed to serve. Not one reporter has mentioned it in their articles about these meetings, despite reporting on the Westmoreland County controller not wearing a mask to a meeting earlier this year.

If our own local municipal officials can flout the law without consequence, why should we expect our average resident to obey any of our ordinances or adhere to our local codes when it inconveniences them? Apparently “because I don’t like it” is justification enough to ignore public health standards and lawful orders to the detriment of the community.

Until residents start demanding their elected representatives abide by the same laws the citizens have to follow, and until reporters do more reporting on community leaders who put the public at risk by refusing to take measures to stop the spread, local elected officials will continue to disregard the health and safety of community residents and more people will follow their lead, increasing rates of infection throughout our area.

Bill Marx, Delmont

The writer is vice president of Delmont Council.

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