Thanks for the question about your peppers.

It looks as if the leaves of your peppers are showing bacterial leaf spot.  It is one of the most common infections seen in peppers.  As the name suggests, the causative agents are various species of bacteria (they all belong to the Xanthomona genus).  It tends to be common in warm, humid days such as we’ve been experiencing.  A characteristic feature of this disease is the appearance of small holes in the leaves surrounded by yellow halos.  Your pictures of the leaves seem to show this feature.  Infected leaves drop prematurely.   The infecting bacteria can also lead to blossom loss.  See:

https://extension.umn.edu/diseases/bacterial-spot-tomato-and-pepper

https://www.seminis-us.com/resources/agronomic-spotlights/understanding-leaf-spots-in-peppers/

As to preventative measures, one of the most effective measures is to plant peppers that are resistant to bacterial leaf spot.  In your future purchases, look for this resistance on the labels that come with the peppers.

The following are two publications (not too optimistic) that can suggest your future steps:

http://vegetablemdonline.ppath.cornell.edu/NewsArticles/PepperLeafSpot.htm

https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/edible/vegetables/pepper/bacterial-leaf-spot-on-peppers.htm

Good Luck!!

Thanks for your  confirmation of the bacterial spot on my pepper plants and the interesting articles you cited. The conclusion seems to be that once seen and identified as bacterial spot there is nothing I can do this year with the plants and probably will not be able to get any fruit  . Is that correct?

Presumably I should just pull them out , destroy them - or put them in trash and till the soil and wait for several years to plant peppers there again. Presumably I should try to create a healthier soil via compost and tilling.

In other words , give up on these plants this year  and go for disease resistant varieties next time - a few years down the road in their present space.

Jim Baker