Letter to the Editor: Same as belt and suspenders
I have a riddle for the “local” of barn door fame: why do many fire-fighters wear a leather belt and red suspenders? I’ll try to answer a few of the questions while you think. The rationale behind encouraging students and teachers to cough or sneeze into their elbow is that it would be a light sneeze or cough. People generally use their hands to open a book, turn the handle on a pencil sharpener, or open the faucet on a water fountain. Hopefully the teacher or student would be resting at home if the symptoms were more severe. They would also, hopefully, be careful about keeping the remote control clean as someone else might soon use the remote.
People who have a common cold are usually aware that they are sick when they are contagious. I understand that this is not the case with Covid-19, nor with the Delta variant. People could be asymptomatic and have no idea that they are contagious. Possibly, someone from Quincy travelled over the weekend, went to work on Monday, passed a fire-fighter walking on the sidewalk, and decided to thank them with a big hug; from there the virus spread like wildfire. I have absolutely no way to prove it happened; you have no way to prove it didn’t.
One story in Plumas News from last summer told of a fire-crew from LA that was just sitting down to dinner at a local restaurant, they saw or heard of a house fire a few blocks away, so they rushed over to help the local department to extinguish the fire. I trust they were able to return and enjoy their meal. Now, if that house had been yours, or one of your neighbor’s, might you think differently about out-of-area fire-fighters? One other reason to be grateful to the south state is that the generator that is temporarily providing power to Crescent Mills was transported from LA, that powers our water and air purifiers. Also, crews from the Plumas might be returning the favor when the Santa Ana winds start wreaking havoc in November and December.
You must have meant the Spanish Creek campground that was used for Covid isolation last year. It has likely been burnt to a crisp. If you were more interested in a Spanish campground try Santander or Barcelona.
A customer would likely only shop at a particular store just one time each day. But a clerk would see 50 or 100 customers. That’s why it is safer for both the clerk and customers to have both masks and plexiglass, same as the belt and suspenders.
Gene Nielsen
Crescent Mills