Wear Masks in Public
Dear Editor: I am a devoted supporter of buying locally. However, I am infinitely more devoted to my family and friends. So, when I voluntarily shop in Sitka, I check to see if there are entrance signs that require masks for customers and employees. (Note: There are many examples of Sitka businesses who have addressed this issue of customer and employee safety.) If the COVID policies are not enforced by staff and management, and I see someone without a mask, I turn away and buy elsewhere (the Internet is always an option). And, I won’t forget and I won’t go back, ever. I simply will not play COVID roulette with my loved ones. It’s not worth it. Not to mention that it indicates indifference to customer care, and is plain old bad business.
With respect to Sitka public offices and facilities, the least our Assembly can do is mandate masking and social distancing in taxpayer-funded entities. And the City of Sitka can begin with the worst of the spreader sources in town, the Sitka Airport, where masking and social distancing is voluntary and rarely done. Every single time airplane passengers depart Sitka Airport hardly anyone wears a mask or practices social distancing. Arriving passengers are coming from everywhere imaginable. Almost no masks, all crammed together, milling around, bumping into one another, coughing, sneezing, talking and breathing into each others faces (shoulder to shoulder close up). The Sitka Airport baggage claim area is a pandemic nightmare (especially for vulnerable medical travelers) and an abject example of misguided/incompetent leadership. I know because I had to travel for medical reasons, which involves running the COVID gauntlet in Sitka.
A blanket mandate probably won’t work in Sitka due to enforcement limitations. But, I don’t need the Assembly to tell me what I should do. I’m capable of setting my own standards for managing risk/benefits and I am better informed than most. This is a very serious problem. So, the risk is high and losing is very costly. Recent research in refereed science journals has determined that there are long term adverse effects of a COVID-19 infection. Children to octogenarians are suffering permanent lung, cardiovascular, and brain damage. I prefer to err on the side of caution. If I’m lucky, sometime in the future, my grandchildren will look back, give thanks and emulate my example.
Dr. Ronald E. Dick, Sitka
