although it certainly keeps you ….

although it certainly keeps you safer. Wearing a mask protects others, especially those like our son who have the double burden of medical fragility and the inability to physically wear a mask.

I’m not asking for sympathy for our situation. I’m asking for a bit of empathy, which means you’ll wear a mask in public. And it means I won’t have to make special requests for you to wear a mask to interact with my son and then get the fifth degree.

Kerry Blondheim

Oshkosh

( formerly of Colby)

Post offices committed to timely ballot deliveries

To the editor: With a record number of people across the country voting by mail, the U.S. Postal Service is actively working to ensure the secure, timely delivery of the nation’s election mail. This is our number one priority.

We know that when voters choose to vote by mail in Abbotsford/ Colby areas, they put their faith in the secure and timely delivery of their ballot to election officials, and we strive continually to earn this trust. Indeed, this is our most sacred duty.

We take seriously our longstanding role in the electoral process, enabling voting by mail in thousands of elections over the years — and we are confident in our capability and capacity to deliver in this election season. We value our partnership with local/state election boards to ensure a strong coordination of the distribution and handoff of the mail-in ballots.

While we continue to recommend that our customers plan ahead and act early when they choose to vote through the U.S. mail, we are focused on the timely delivery of ballots. Throughout October and November, the Postal Service has allocated additional resources including expanded processing procedures, extra transportation, extra delivery and collection trips and overtime to ensure election mail reaches its intended destination in a timely manner.

Between Oct. 26 and Nov. 24, we will use extraordinary measures—expedited handling, extra deliveries and special pickups—consistent with practices used in past elections to accelerate the delivery of ballots to its intended destination.

Voters in Wisconsin should be assured that this election season, we are committed and actively working to serve you. Our post offices and retail locations are open, our mail carriers are at the ready and our collection boxes will be monitored and cleared regularly. As we continue receiving ballots cast by mail, voters in Wisconsin can be assured that the women and men of the Postal Service are united and fully focused on ensuring their secure and timely delivery.

Rendean Seefeldt Colby Postmaster and Melanie Boeck

Abbotsford Postmaster

Look both ways

To the editor: As parents, one of the first safety lessons we teach our children is to look both ways before crossing the street. Initially, they are too young to understand the potential harm that might result to both them and to a driver and his passengers by not heeding those precautions. A car might be forced to swerve out of its lane to avoid hitting an unaware pedestrian, creating the possibility of a collision.

Now consider how absurd it would be for an adult to not look both ways before crossing a street. He might argue, “I’m not going to live in fear” or “We all have to die sometime.” Or consider another argument, “I should have the freedom to cross the street anytime or anywhere I want to.” I think most people would consider those arguments to be unwise.

I know that wearing a mask is not pleasant or convenient and we are all getting tired of this pandemic and its restrictions. We just want it to be over! But, public health experts tell us that we could save tens of thousands of lives by simply wearing a mask in public.

In Marathon County, the number of COVID-19 cases has gone from 753 on Aug. 27 to 4,828 on Oct. 27. That’s a 541 percent increase in just two months. I think we need to do a better job of “looking both ways” instead of making excuses.

Doug Lamberg

Edgar