Letters

I hope there is one book that all parents homeschooling at this point will read to their young children: “The Emperor’s New Clothes.” It certainly is a civics lesson regarding our current leadership in New York.

This continuing lockdown is no longer based on the necessary data for our state to open up. Clearly, the data shows that a continued lockdown should be protecting the highest-risk group, and that is people over 65. This shutdown was not going to eradicate the virus. This was done to flatten the curve so that our hospitals would not be overwhelmed.

We need to keep a balance so that the virus doesn’t overwhelm the hospital system, and yet still let people earn a living. This goal has been achieved, and it’s time to open up our businesses.

Our state has clearly dropped the ball regarding nursing homes. The most vulnerable were the least protected throughout this process. Deaths so far in our state show that 25 percent have occurred in nursing homes, and I believe when the final number is in it will be even higher. Testing and isolation started way too late to safe thousands of our senior citizens.

We continue to let politicians who make a living off our tax dollars to to get paid while 30 million Americans are on unemployment. The lack of respect from those who get paid from taxpaying dollars to those who actually make the money is mind-boggling.

The media chastised Florida for leaving the beaches open during spring break and didn’t even shut down for another two weeks. But did Florida get overrun with COVID-19? They did not, nor have they had the deaths in nursing homes like we have, because they quickly recognized nursing homes as ground zero and took definitive action.

Additionally Florida has now reopened significantly — as our politicians figure more ways to kill our economy in New York. I’m well aware that New York is unique in its density issue and was truly ground zero regarding this virus, but a continued shutdown will lead to massive default on commercial and residential buildings, as well as soaring tax rates for the taxpayers.

Let stores and restaurants open with temperature checks, good hygiene, face masks where applicable and “social” distancing. Let the businesspeople make the decisions to protect and serve their customers — they certainly do it better then our state government.

Enough of government telling us what to do — let the people decide for themselves how to live their lives and make a living. Let’s protect those who are most vulnerable and stop pretending that we need more data when it’s crystal clear what needs to be done.

Thomas M. Jones

Sag Harbor