Emergency! After witnessing people suffering while at Quitman Public Library given the water fountain was off limits due to covid, I submitted a proposal to Mayor Steve Watkins to buy a sanitary water cooler. This was done because QPL started letting people use the water fountain which is very risky with covid on the rise.
The mayor told me the same thing QPL told me, "It is not in the budget." This is an emergency. A sanitary stainless steel water cooler made by Frigidaire would only cost about $200.00, including cups and reusable bottle.
Covid kills. No amount of wiping down a water fountain is going to protect against the new varieties of BA covid that is now on the rise in Mississippi. Quitman is not immune to covid. BA covid is extremely contagious and wiping down a water fountain will not stop covid.
In the last week, three people that I have encountered admitted to having recently had covid. I am not going to drink water out of a public access fountain. No one else who has any common sense should drink out of a public access water fountain during the covid pandemic even if they have been fully vaccinated.
Many senior citizens and children visit QPL. Both are at risk of covid infection if they drink out of a public access water fountain. Certainly, QPL and the City of Quitman should realize this is an emergency. People can have a sun stroke if they get dehydrated. People can die if they get covid by drinking from a public access water fountain.
If nothing else, pass the hat. It would only take ten people donating $20.00 to buy a sanitary water cooler. There is no time to delay. This should be done immediately.
People's lives are at stake. Covid kills! Already over one-million Americans have been killed by covid. I put a crucifix in my front yard in memory of the one million plus Americans killed by covid.
Nothing is more important than life itself. Please help. Go by QPL and tell them you want to donate money for a sanitary water cooler.
Get QPL a sanitary water cooler so no one will die. There is no reason why not to do this. There is no valid excuse. The BA varieties of covid are too contagious to delay.
Terry Lynch
Quitman, MS
