Letters to the Editor: Sept. 25

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Test in cars?

Can medical officer of health Chris Mackie explain why the COVID-19 testing is not done in car as in other municipalities? My son and his two children were tested on Monday in Calgary without leaving the car.

Maureen Dunning, London

Change testing

This week my son reported a headache and mild abdominal pain and upset stomach prior to school. Following the school screening protocol, we went to get a COVID-19 test.

We got to the centre at 8 a.m. and the lineup was already weaving miles through the neighbourhood. Half an hour into our wait, all his symptoms were gone, but the wheels were already in motion and a negative result was required to go back to school.

After six hours, the test was completed. It came back 24 hours later negative.

Based on our experience, changes desperately need to be made. The testing capacity in London is not able to match the increased need due to the back-to-school influx. Common viruses are expected this time of the year and given that the screening checklist includes many common symptoms, the system is going to be overrun.


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A proactive family trying to do the right thing for their child and the community is being met with multiple days off work and school and extremely long wait times.

C. McCallum, London

See Plantation Road through others’ eyes

It is unfortunate many Londoners seem to be incapable of reading or seeing things from a different perspective.

If people were interested in understanding why Plantation Road is an inappropriate street name, they would read the letters of support from many Black organizations in London.

Reading the comments on social media and the letters in the paper demonstrates just how much systemic racism is raging here in London. The amount of hate and ignorance is stunning, and the lack of empathy and understanding toward Black community members who have spoken in support of this name change is mind-boggling.

Please Londoners, try to see things from the perspective of someone else. Listen, read, educate yourselves and, for goodness sake, stop slandering a 10-year-old who is trying to create change in this clearly racist city.

Loretta Mills, London

Street name whim

With the pandemic, homelessness, job loss, empty stores downtown, restaurants half empty, city council is considering changing the name of a street? Really!

Have any councillors ever moved and had the task of changing their street address, paying the Post Office to forward mail and dealing with companies that forgot to change their records? It is a colossal nightmare.


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Sri Lanka has tea plantations, There are pineapple plantations in Hawaii, and peanut and pecan plantations in the south. What it used to mean and what it means now are different.

We have many names being changed on whims and political correctness. City council should stop the nonsense and work on important things.

Eleanor M. Armstrong, London

Have doctors issue card for maskless

If for some legitimate health reason a person cannot wear a mask, I suggest we have a medical practitioner issue a card, like they do for handicap parking signs. No one but the doctor and that person will know why the exemption was issued. If the individual is approached by a legitimate representative, such as a business employee or bylaw officer, they present their card and carry on.

To leave things as they are where all an individual has to do is claim they have a medical condition makes the bylaw unenforceable.

James Seaton, London

Park not a dump

Re: Dumped leaves killing trilliums (Sept. 24).

A number of homeowners who back onto Reservoir Park have used the park as their yard waste dump for years. I contacted bylaw enforcement four years ago after observing a landscape crew carting waste into the park via a back gate. Obviously this is not a priority for the city as the dumping continues.

John Stromberg, London