Letters to the editor can be submitted to news@chronline.com.
COVID-19 is a beast that will be with us for a while. Economic recovery will take years. Those who predict otherwise are either soft-peddling to protect an agenda or delusional. It will bounce around the globe with the randomness of Russian roulette. No one knows how bad it will get. The economic impact is incalculable. What rational person is willing to trade their life for a vibrant economy? What good is money if you’re dead?
The problem with relating it to other maladies that affect the human condition downplays its lethality. Compared to the flu: it has shown a significantly (40x) higher contagion probability and (10x) mortality rate. Who would knowingly subject themselves to those odds? Those who think the numbers aren’t real should visit New York City for a few weeks.
Another argument is the illogical comparison to auto deaths. When driving a car, you at least have a degree of control, whereas with this monster you are totally out of control. Who is willing to gamble that their immune system is up to the task? We have no current defense except to isolate.
People are dying. When it is someone you know, even if second- or third-hand, it shakes you to the core. My son has a business associate whose otherwise healthy (no underlying conditions) 54-year-old wife died yesterday in Arizona. Tragedies like this are a huge, close-to-home, wake up call. Watch. Over the next few months, these horror stories will multiply. No one will escape unscathed. Tragically, odds are it will affect someone you know.
Yes, the media is hyper-focused on this. Rightly so. If one person’s life is saved because they got the memo through their thick skull, then it’s worth the hype. Hype won’t kill you. Being pollyannaish about it just might.
Stay safe my friends.
Kevin Gillan
Centralia
