Trump on his responsibility: Letters to the editor, April 29, 2020
Trump’s words were fairly reported
Poor Mr. Burry (letter, March 27) who so wants to defend the president, and feels the paper has hit a new low by quoting the POTUS directly, “No, I don’t take responsibility!” I, personally heard Mr. Trump say that and instantly I, also, recalled the fond memory of an earlier president with the sign on his desk, “The buck stops here.” But, of course, that president, Mr. Truman, had honor. Not a word we associate with the POTUS 2020. Mr. Burry doesn’t even ask that Tiny Trump stand behind his own words etched in audio/photographic memory.
How can you sue for accurately quoting a public official from his televised, recorded speeches, and say how unfair this was?
Sylvia J. Woodburne, Fresno
TP is not worth panicking over
Regarding Jennifer Randles’ recent story, “What binge toilet paper buying tells us.” The TP shortage is nothing more than irrational people panicking and hoarding or, worse yet, trying to mak a profit on their fellow Americans. The part about "using them as diapers" dumbfounded me. How did my parents diaper their three children?? Cloth diapers!
If you travel to an actual poverty-stricken area, you will see babies and toddlers in cloth diapers. I guarantee you won't see Charmin wrapped around their tush. When this craziness started, I purchased a pack of washable and reusable diapers for our 7 month old grandbaby, just in case. You do with what you have. It's not about being poor, it's about convenience...and sadly, paranoia.
Cynthia Woods, Clovis
Great need for mental health help
Earlier this month you reported that there has been a surge in calls made to the Wellspace Health’s Suicide Prevention and Crisis line. Clearly, the pandemic has begun to highlight and exacerbate the already existing paucity of mental health services available for people across the country.
This issue is particularly salient for young people, as nearly 1 in 7 kids and adolescents in the U.S. have a mental condition. There is also a severe shortage of psychiatrists, with only 17 providers per 100,000 children, and even with insurance, treatment is expensive and rarely covered comprehensively.
Mental illnesses also strain our health-care system, costing billions of dollars annually. As a senior at UC Berkeley studying neurobiology and public health, the inadequate approach to mental health in this country is all too apparent, especially when considering the fact that 1 in 3 college freshmen worldwide experience symptoms of a mental illness. We need to address mental health before actual illnesses develop by implementing educational programs early in schools, by normalizing the topic of mental illness and eliminating the stigma associated with it, in addition to expanding access to and affordability of mental health services.
Abigail Broughton, Fresno
What’s in a name? A lot if it is diseases
The letter last month from Sharon Green (3-29-20) about viruses coming from China is highly misleading and contains significant factual errors. Her list includes the swine flu, MERS, and H1N1, none of which originated in China.
MERS stands for Middle East Respiratory Syndrome and originated in Saudi Arabia. H1N1 is a class of virus that appears periodically, but the two well-known cases are the 1918 pandemic, killing 50 million, and the 2009 pandemic, killing 500,000. The 1918 pandemic started in Europe, and the 2009 pandemic started in the U.S., or possibly simultaneously in Mexico. That pandemic, known as the swine flu, was the last WHO-declared pandemic before this one.
Attempts to wrongly blame China for viruses that originated within its borders and for ones that didn’t has led to a surge in anti-Chinese sentiment and anti-Asian hate crimes. NBC reported 650 anti-Asian racist acts tied to the virus in the week ending March 26. This is wrong. The people targeted are in no way responsible for the outbreak of COVID-19. Fortunately for us, the 2009 swine flu did not get labeled the American fu and did not lead to attacks on North Americans traveling or living abroad. It did, however, lead to anti-swine sentiment — proof that how you label a pandemic makes a huge difference and mislabeling it can cause irreparable harm.
Gerry Bill, Fresno
This story was originally published April 29, 2020 at 6:00 AM with the headline "Trump on his responsibility: Letters to the editor, April 29, 2020."