To the Editor,
This past Friday, July 10, Governor Baker rescinded his temporary order suspending all local shopping bag laws and banning the use of reusable bags.
It is open to argument if the temporary order, put in place on March 25, was ever necessary in the first place. At best, it may have been a decision to err on the side of caution given how little was known about the COVID-19 virus at the time and that is fine.
However, most scientists found little or no evidence to support such an order. Public health officials now think surface transmission presents a small risk. As we all should know by now, the CDC indicates that the virus spreads primarily through infected droplets emitted while breathing and speaking, and most commonly, indoors. Hence, the continued need for face masks and a darn good reason that, even though you may go indoors to a restaurant and are allowed to remove your mask while seated, you really, really should think twice about that.
What I believe is clear is that the plastic industry took advantage of the coronavirus pandemic to attempt to roll back plastic bag legislation by making claims of the sterile nature of plastic bags, even though germs can live on them far longer than on absorptive surfaces like paper. In the absence of real scientific knowledge about this pandemic, their assertions ruled the day, back in last March or so. Now the truth and reasonableness are coming out.
I am very pleased to once again bring my reusable bags to the store and say no thank you to plastic bags.
Gary Gilbert
Manchester
