The Santiva Chronicle publishes opinions and letters on topics that are important to Sanibel and Captiva. They may be submitted via e-mail at news@santivachronicle.com. Views expressed are not necessarily those of the Santiva Chronicle.
City Council and Citizens of Sanibel,
Sanibel could take an example from the local government in a small town in upstate, New York, about the important information they give their citizens on Covid 19. Tupper Lake, New York, is a rural community with 3,667 residents. The Adirondack Daily Enterprise ran a story on November 11, 2020 identifying a specific location, the times, and days local residents may have been exposed to Covid 19. People who had been present at the location on the days and times indicated were encouraged to call the County COVID-19 hotline for contact tracing.
The article went on to report that, countywide, they had 10 new cases for the week, a total of 50 active cases from the beginning of the outbreak, the number of people who died since the outbreak (2), and that those deaths happened that week.
I ask you, City Council Members, if a small, rural community in upstate New York can provide all of this information, why can’t we get the same information?
As the pandemic is expanding and snowbirds are returning, I believe we need to know what is going on in our community. Merely knowing the number of cases is not acceptable.
Dan Perkins
Resident of Sanibel