Health care must-do's, cancel culture and safe driving

Many must-do’s for health care workers

As a provider of health care services in hospitals for about 45 years and having been a patient myself many times, I think I know a thing or two about requirements to protect patient safety ["Legal challenges to public health mandates surge," News, Sept. 26].

We are required to be vaccinated against numerous infectious diseases. When entering any kind of sterile area, we are required to scrub appropriately and don gowns, hair and shoe coverings, new face masks, and gloves. Long fingernails and jewelry are prohibited. When patient care technicians provide hands-on assistance, they are required to thoroughly wash their hands between patients. The list goes on and on.

Why do we have these requirements? They are there for two reasons. To protect the health and safety of patients we treat, and to protect our own health and safety when providing care to patients with infectious diseases.

And yet none of these are, strictly speaking, mandates. They are, however, requirements that must be met in order to safely perform their tasks.

So I’m not sure why a vaccine that will provide a high level of protection against transmission of an infectious disease poses a problem for many health care workers.

— Leonard Cohen, Wantagh

Since so many people are demanding their rights for individual choices over the rights of the masses, they should be allowed to carry out their so-called "rights."

However, they should be penalized if their actions cause other individuals to become ill or die due to their "rights" and the consequences of their behaviors.

No one should argue their rights if it causes harm to others. Heavy monetary penalties and jail time should be applied if tracing shows a connection of COVID-19 from these people.

A small group of these selfish individuals should not harm the majority of individuals, who follow the science.

— Janet S. Gold, Woodmere

Many hospital workers watch the horrors of COVID-19 yet won’t take the vaccine that would prevent them from becoming deathly sick and help stop the spread of this disease.

If they have somehow misinformed themselves into not taking the vaccine, then they are unable to safely do their jobs. Would Nassau or Suffolk county approve of a patrol officer refusing to wear a bulletproof vest?

Being unvaccinated presents a danger to health care workers and those around them. It’s OK to let them go. They are, in effect, indicating they are unable to properly do their jobs.

More than 200 million people in the United States have received at least one dose. It’s beyond the experimental stage. It is appropriate to cull non-compliant public service employees. In some jobs, you just can’t do whatever you feel like doing.

— Ron Greenfield, Wantagh

Cancel culture means canceling our history

The guest essay "Ousting Cuomo disenfranchised NY voters" by David H. Pikus is on point [Opinion, Sept. 23]. Thank you for educating us.

In this period of cancel culture, we have also canceled due process. We continue to fail as citizens, and history repeats itself as we compromise the rule of law to dehumanize one sector of the population to humanize another.

Is this the legacy that we wish for future generations?

History repeats, but under a different guise or cause, or we tell ourselves it’s for the greater good. If we live this way and choose cancel culture, we cancel all the hardships that came before and have learned nothing from history in the name of a civilized and just society.

— Brigida C. Johnston, Middle Island

Put devices in cars to force drivers to slow

I fully agree with previous discussions regarding the obvious uptick in reckless driving and the need for some level of enforcement and accountability ["Use new tools for safer roads," Editorial, Aug. 16].

More than 2 million vehicles are registered in Nassau and Suffolk counties. Let’s say 95% of the drivers are solid law-abiding citizens. That leaves 5% who fit into the category of dangerous drivers. That’s 100,000 potential roadway abusers. I am not in law enforcement, but how can we possibly control this problem with ticketing or license suspension?  One possible solution is using state-of-the-art automotive technology to modify bad driver behavior and impulses. More electric cars are being sold. Let’s build sensors in cars that detect if a driver is dangerously tailgating or rapidly switching lanes. The brake automatically is triggered to slow down the car, or the accelerator is depressed until a safer distance between cars is possible. If this life-saving, common-sense technology is standardized for all new cars, it could help. 

— Gary Korbel, Westbury