Letter: Let’s change how we are responding to COVID-19 – Northwest Herald

This pandemic is certainly serious but our reaction is without precedent.

Communication and effort of health care professionals, business, and some government officials has been extraordinary if not heroic.

We have taken an extreme position to cloister our entire civilization with little regard to short and long-term effects. We seem determined to dwell on the negative. The press and government inundate us daily with the latest death statistics that shock us until we are becoming numb to the situation.

In my opinion, we have lost perspective. The pandemic is bad, no denial. We live in a tough world. Death and disease are unfortunately part of it. Certainly efforts to flatten the curve have kept the numbers down. I read in recent editorials conflicting arguments about whether the numbers are tenths or hundredths of a percentage of the population.

Either number is small, very small, for a country of 350 million and world of 8 billion. To date, global deaths are about half of yearly malaria fatalities.

I certainly dont want anyone in my family to get the disease, and sympathize with those that have. Are we willing to destroy our way of life in order to achieve zero fatality? Dr. Fauci seems to want us to stay at home indefinitely. Noble, but impractical, goals.

Suggestions to improve the situation.

1. Suspend the political theater. Work to improve the situation for both people and business.

2. Report responsibly - use per capita instead of gross numbers; realizing total infections are under reported would yield a clearer picture of problem severity.

3. Governors guide us better - shutting down indefinitely is the easy way out; balancing a devastating disease and a complex economy is the only acceptable solution.

4. People, get off your couch! It is time to get back to work. Do not accept this trance, challenge your government, help your community!

Accept the fact that their will be some very unsavory aspects to our life for a long time but have the courage to get on with it.

Tom Straley

Spring Grove

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Letter: Let's change how we are responding to COVID-19 - Northwest Herald