A letter on the National City government and Mayor Morrison

The reality is simply this

Re: “National City Power Grab?”, News Ticker

Interesting article on Mayor Morrison. The reality is simply this: the detractors have little to concern themselves with as Morrison holds little power in office, relegated to being one out of five votes required with city council.

In a small form of government (National City), the city manager has the actual power to make all decisions. Her name is Leslie Deese — she is the power broker. Morrison is and has always been little more than a token politico clinging to a position that pays little yet reaps benefits to him as a paid port commission consultant at $40K annually.

While he should not be allowed to fudge the rules solidly in place, he is of little importance to daily operations within city hall. Basically, this is his (and supporters) biggest claim to fame in a life that is for little more than personal satisfaction.

• Name withheld

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Hep A outbreak in San Antonio was traced to canned tuna

Re: “San Diego hepatitis carrier caused mass outbreak in Arizona,” News Ticker

I appreciate your continuous coverage of the Hepatitis A outbreak in San Diego, which has killed 20 local homeless people. Are SD city leaders communicating with those in Arizona, San Antonio, Texas, Colorado, Detroit, Michigan, Salt Lake City, Utah, New York, and Santa Cruz? These areas also have homeless populations with a Hepatitis A problem, which was found to be the identical strain as San Diego in Arizona, according to what I have read about it from Food Safety News by the CDC.

I was trying to wrap my head around any reason this outbreak is getting the homeless people and not everyone else. Public-health outreach teams have been vaccinating everyone they can. The vaccine’s insert mentions that giving it to people with compromised immune systems is contraindicated. I’d expect that some of these vaccinated already have Hep C. Could a Hepatitis A and B combination vaccine containing minute quantities of the viruses actually be the final nail in the coffin rather than good preventative medicine if their livers are already compromised? Gathering all the homeless beneath these large tents downtown might actually breed more germs and spread the disease even further if this strain spreads as easily as they are saying. Permanent housing is preferable to temporary tents because nobody has to share a bathroom.

The recent Hep A outbreak in San Antonio was actually traced back to canned tuna. It’s possible that contaminated canned tuna could have been distributed to various homeless shelters in the USA prior to anyone becoming aware of any product recall. Canned tuna is definitely to be avoided. My girlfriend’s Fukushima paranoia has caused me to rethink certain foods, recalled or not. Radiation causes viruses to mutate, and TEPCO dumped several million tons of radioactive water into the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Japan and has been for the past six years. Anything that was caught near Japan’s waters would be suspect, but tuna is most concerning since it eats other fish, migrates long distances, and radiation bioaccumulates up the food chain in larger fish.

There has to be some common denominator which is causing only the homeless people to die from this Hep A epidemic at abnormally high rates. Perhaps a test for Hep C might be advised before giving out the Hep A and B vaccines. I trust the CDC is communicating with the nonprofits that run shelters and local food banks in every state experiencing a Hep A crisis. Let’s hope they are staying on top of that tuna recall while also paying attention to vaccine insert recommendations. They would not want to give off the wrong impression that the public health agencies are exterminating homeless people. Talk about a PR nightmare!

I am proud to see Mayor Falconer on TV addressing the real issues rather than just worrying about stadium deals. I am over The Chargers anyway since they moved to L.A., and demonstrating concern over the health of society’s most vulnerable members is far more commendable. City leaders in other states solve their homeless problems by sending them on a bus somewhere else, and San Diego is where many end up. Mayor Falconer’s heart seems to be in the right place, and I was wrong for expecting him to take all the heat for San Diego’s homelessness/Hep A epidemics. This problem reaches far beyond the mayor’s jurisdiction and will require cooperation at all levels.

• Joseph Ciardullo
• Oceanside