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My recent return from a dentist appointment in Nogales was terrible. The line was extremely long and difficult to social-distance in because so many people were waiting to cross the border.

I and hundreds of others waited for over 7.5 hours to get to the processing room.

There were only two U.S. Border Patrol people working and only two people could enter at a time.

There could have been more border personnel working to safely process people to cut down on the waiting time and congestion.

This appeared to me to be a bad example of the current administration鈥檚 attempt to curb border crossings while using the COVID-19 virus as a reason to place so few personnel at the border.

This was more than just an inconvenience. It actually created a more dangerous situation with people having to wait so long and in close proximity.

Gail Schumacher

Southwest side

Wear a mask

for front-line workers

Nearly 90,000 people have died. In many of those cases, the only person with the dying patient was a nurse at their bedside.

A recent article told the story of one such nurse. No one else could be with the patient.

She shared her experience of holding his hand, putting on soft music and dimming the lights. She spoke to him with comforting words and held up an iPad so he could see his family member.

After he died, she went out into the empty hallway and sobbed.

These scenarios are occurring numerous times a day.

This is an excruciating experience for all the dedicated medical staff and it is taking its toll.

We owe them more than a few words of thanks. In many cases we owe them our lives.

And we owe it to them to follow the safety guidelines, including wearing masks.

John D. Kautz

Midtown

Social distancing or quarantine, you decide

The dictionary definition of quarantine is a state, period or place of isolation in which people or animals that have arrived from elsewhere or have been exposed to infectious or contagious disease are placed.

The definition of social distancing from the CDC is: Social distancing, also called 鈥減hysical distancing,鈥� means keeping space between yourself and other people outside of your home. To practice social or physical distancing, stay at least 6 feet (about 2 arms鈥檚 lengths) from other people, do not gather in groups, stay out of crowded places and avoid mass gatherings.

It seems to me that people need to practice social distancing so that they won鈥檛 be quarantined.

I think so many are frustrated because we can鈥檛 remember a time when the well were quarantined and had to watch our country鈥檚 economy crash while we are home.

Phyllis Peto

Northeast side

National parks should stay closed, for now

As a former national park ranger, I am watching with some fear the administration鈥檚 relentless push to reopen America鈥檚 national parks.

There are three groups of people that absolutely must be kept safe.

The first group is the people that live in 鈥済ateway communities,鈥� the small towns outside our parks.

Their communities are often miles away from adequate medical facilities. The arrival of thousands of tourists puts these people at risk.

The second group is the park employees, those who interact with the visitors. Will they have adequate PPE to protect themselves while dealing with the visitors?

Finally, there are the visitors. Will they practice social distancing? Will they wear masks?

From what I have seen in news photos of people visiting reopened beaches, I鈥檓 not very confident that they will.

Keep the parks closed a little longer so we can assure safety.

Rick Smith

Foothills