I read Eileen Wright’s letter about public officials supposedly deceiving the public about the COVID-19 pandemic. Eileen, like many on the right, focuses on the economy and “freedom” and believe that the virus is a minor problem. Her feel-good views are dangerous.
Obviously, Wright is not involved with the hospitals. If she were, she would see the real disaster of this pandemic, which is our health care system pushed beyond its limits. Not only are hospitals over-full of COVID-19 patients, the staff working at these places is exhausted, traumatized and angry. Our hospitals will be permanently changed by this disaster.
Americans are dying by the hundreds of thousands in this pandemic that Ms. Wright dismisses as 99.5% survivable. Random young people die, the obese (very common in the US) die, the elderly people with diabetes (very common in the US) will die.
Public officials are entirely right to work to flatten the curve to protect our hospitals and our underpaid and overworked health care workers. American’s attention span has lapsed and our parties, eating out, big family gatherings, are all spreading the virus. Younger people may feel invulnerable, but they will spread it to people at risk who may die. Meanwhile I urge Wright and people who share her view to focus on the COVID wards at the hospitals. Talk to the nurses there. Become informed. Get real.
Tom Ribe
Santa Fe, N.M.
