You can’t have it both ways
You can’t have it both ways Mr. Roth. Either, we believe the science around COVID or we don’t. As a physician and a man of science, I believe in vaccination and masking. I believe the data that COVID transmits much more easily indoors than out of doors. To close the beaches and parks and drive people indoors makes no sense. To continue to allow indoor dining and prohibit a picnic in a breezy park or beach defies logic. If we want people to vaccinate and mask because that is what the science tells us, we need to have our government acting consistently in sync with the best available data. There are already regulations on large gatherings on the book. Enforce them. Don’t give the deniers ammunition.
David Kaplan
Waimea
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Get your facts straight
Ms. Kerr, please consider expanding your own “perspective” outlined in an Aug. 12 letter to the editor. But first, get your facts straight. Gov. David Ige isn’t forcing anyone to “get vaccinated or face termination.” Children who are masked in school are hardly being “muzzled.” Yes, people die every day from diabetes, as well as heart disease or automobile accidents. Too bad vaccinations aren’t available for those conditions; how many anti-vaxxers would be in those groups?
Meanwhile, many hospitals in Texas are out of ICU beds and staffing is stretched thin. The Delta variant isn’t slowing down. The governor frowns on mask mandates and vaccination rates are low. Do you think there might be a connection?
Mississippi has officials worried that hospitals are facing “failure” as COVID cases are surging. There are children on respirators. The governor frowns on mask mandates and vaccination rates are low. Do you think there might be a connection?
Over 90% of Florida’s ICU beds are already full as the virus continues to spread. The state has about 6% of the U.S. population and almost 20% of known COVID cases. The governor frowns on mask mandates and vaccination rates are low. Do you think there might be a connection?
If smallpox were again ravaging the country (it isn’t, because of vaccinations) would you complain about a “variola mania?” If we were in the middle of a polio epidemic (we aren’t, because of vaccinations) would you insist we “get out from under thumb of government?”
More children are now contracting COVID, though — yes — the death rate is low. What percent of deaths would you say is acceptable, before you would impose mask mandates in schools? And, how many months or years will it take before we know whether kids will suffer from “long haul syndrome.”
By supporting this crusade against what is arguably a very safe vaccine, not only are our unvaccinated friends, neighbors and relatives at risk of hospitalization and perhaps death, they are most likely going to be the cause of children getting sick. You aren’t getting vaccinated just for yourself; think of others around you. Think of the children. Do it for the children.
Phyllis Hanson
Kona
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