Letters to the editor for May 26

No more masks?

Let me see if I have this straight. People who are fully vaccinated no longer have to wear masks. Most (many?) of the people who don’t plan to get the vaccine should be wearing masks but usually don’t. So we won’t know if people not wearing masks are vaccinated or not. Huh?

Only about 36% of Thurston County residents have been fully vaccinated. Perhaps, we should all be wearing masks until the vaccination rate is substantially higher or until new COVID-19 cases are substantially lower than they are now.

Gerald W. Sheehan, Olympia

Unemployment scam arrest

Regarding the story on the arrest in the massive pandemic unemployment fraud against Washington state.

This does nothing for the millions of Washington citizens permanently damaged financially, who are now, with their wives and children, hungry and on the streets, with no recourse.

Poor management — indeed, in my mind, criminal mismanagement — of federally disbursed relief funds, which might have saved those families’ homes and livelihoods, means those funds are long gone, siphoned off by some scam artists in a foreign land.

I don’t know if this arrest means anything will happen to get that money back, or bring justice, protection and recompense to the taxpayers and the unemployed of Washington or the United States. But I fervently hope it does.

Matthew Van Camp, Olympia

CDC mask guidelines confusing

I have a hard time agreeing with David Zurawik that CDC messaging has been confusing, as stated in his opinion column “The CDC has done a terrible job in its’ pandemic communications.” On the contrary, I find the simple message of “You don’t need to wear a mask if you are fully vaccinated if local policy allows; if not, you should keep masking until you are fully vaccinated” quite easy to interpret.

The CDC has been struggling with pushback and misinformation since the beginning of this pandemic. Remember this was a new virus never seen before, hence CDC guidelines naturally evolved as our understanding of the virus increased. Unfortunately, punditry masquerading as news, and misinformation spread by certain elected officials and users of social media platforms, muddied the simple guidelines recommended by the CDC and the medical community at large.

The only “terrible” jobs here are the media’s and politicians’ readiness to amplify sensational conspiracy theories, and our failure as citizens to critically analyze ridiculous misinformation.

Karl W. Kohlstaedt, Olympia

The Bidens income

Your article this week on President Biden’s income taxes was interesting, but you didn’t mention something.

The Bidens put much of their income into an “S Corporation,” which means they don’t pay Medicare taxes, saving them 3.8% in income taxes. According to The Wall Street Journal, this has saved them up to $500,000 in income taxes since 2017.

It’s probably not an uncommon tactic, but it would be interesting to see which other politicians or former politicians use this same loophole.

Philip Goff, Olympia