Killing the Pollinators
To the editor:
Re “Mosquito Population Stays High Despite Treatment,” Aug. 5, page A7:
Your informative article confirmed my suspicion that mosquito spray with permethrin is toxic to pollinators. Curt Felix states that his Mosquito Squad customers do not see a reduction in pollinators in their yards after treatment. Really?
I am observing many fewer butterflies and other insects in my yard. Instead of a half-dozen Painted Ladies, I have seen none for two years running. No Black Swallowtails come to lay eggs on my parsley. A single Monarch appeared a week ago, long after the milkweed bloomed. (The plant never got pollinated and has no seed pods.)
Other insects are equally scarce. Only one Hummingbird Moth comes by, where I used to have several. Nor have I seen any Walking Sticks, Praying Mantises, or Katydids this year. No June bugs or other curious beetles ping on our window screens at night. Even fireflies are scarce.
Our neighbor with a sumptuous flower garden also reports fewer butterflies now. After planting a bed of fennel to attract Black Swallowtails, she hasn’t had a single one. Butterflies cover large distances, soaring from yard to yard and up into the trees. What are their chances of avoiding a recently sprayed property? Moreover, with the increase in windy days on the Cape, drift seems more likely than not.
The worldwide decline in insect populations is well documented and due to many causes. We add insult to injury by allowing the use of permethrin. We will never know for sure when we reach the tipping point, but one sad day we may wake up to realize that we have not seen a single butterfly all summer.
Carol Jules
Wellfleet
Gimme Just One Reason
To the editor:
I had mixed feelings about “Cycling Accidents Plague Outer Cape’s Bike Paths and Trails” in last week’s Independent.
I’m glad the issues were brought up, front and center. It weakens the point, however, to try to convince anyone that a bike helmet can or should be fashionable. To be effective and protect the forehead, which is often what hits something hard first, the helmet must be worn, without a baseball cap underneath, fitted properly and strapped securely, down over the forehead. Yes — the dork look.
As one whose life literally has been saved twice in 15 years by bike helmets (in both cases, police on the scene said I was not at fault), the mom in me worries every time I see a rider without a helmet or wearing one ineffectively. It doesn’t matter whether you’re an experienced bicyclist or whether you rarely ride. Negligent people out there will hit others (you!), even on a seemingly mild-mannered, paved bike path.
There is only one reason to wear a bike helmet, and that is if you value what’s underneath.
Wendy Walsh
Eastham
Vaccination and OCHS
To the editor:
I find it incomprehensible that (1) all health care providers at Outer Cape Health Services are not vaccinated, and (2) it is not a requirement to work at OCHS [“Local Businesses, Health Care Providers Resist Requiring Vaccine,” Aug. 5, page A6]. Around the country, many hospitals now make it mandatory for all employees to be vaccinated.
It makes me question the commitment that OCHS has to the health of the community, and the judgment of those who work at OCHS who are not vaccinated.
Peter Rothstein
Wellfleet
You’ve Got Mail — Not
To the editor:
Your recent article about mail delivery problems [“USPS Worker Shortages Slow Outer Cape Mail Delivery, July 29, front page] hit home last Saturday, Aug. 7. I picked up mail at the North Eastham Post Office. There were three magazines and a travel catalog. The catalog described trips that had already happened; the Harper’s was dated May 2021; and the two issues of the New Yorker were from Nov. 16, 2020 and Dec. 7, 2020.
Where were they hiding all that time?
Judy Parmelee
Eastham
Asking for Proof
To the editor:
No one should be surprised that our beloved town had a Covid outbreak in July.
Opening a compact town like ours so completely to thousands of people from all over the country on the “honor system” and in the middle of a pandemic — trusting that they will all have had their vaccinations and behave responsibly — isn’t realistic.
Keeping the mask requirement in place and asking for proof of vaccination may not have been popular and would no doubt discourage some from spending time here, but I doubt it would have the same negative effect on business that the outbreak has.
Frank Lee Barringer
Provincetown
Respect for Public Health
To the editor:
Thank you to all the folks in Provincetown who, even with mild symptoms, got tested for Covid. Thank you to the state for sending a mobile testing unit. Thank you to the four nurses from up Cape who did the contact tracing. We learned a lot that we needed to know.
Elsewhere, at big parties on the beach and in cities, the same diligent attention to testing and tracing has not happened. It happened in Provincetown because of the history of respect that the community and its visitors have for public health. This certainly could not have happened at a Spring Break.
Marianne Boswell
Lexington and Wellfleet
Remembering
To the editor:
Good luck to those who refuse to be vaccinated against the coronavirus, now spearheaded by the super-contagious Delta variant that is spreading like wildfire.
I’m sure that my brother-in-law, Joseph G. Mladinich, would have gladly taken the vaccine, but he died tragically of Covid-19 at Cape Cod Hospital on April 24, 2020, before the vaccine was available.
Joseph is dearly missed.
Mike Rice
Wellfleet
