COVID: Fight it rationally

Regarding COVID-19, many are saying “follow the scientists.” Which scientists? Those in health that predict disaster if extreme precautions are not taken? Or those in economics who say that extreme precautions (closing activities) cause businesses to fail and lead to economic collapse? Or those in social studies who say that extreme measures are causing an epidemic of loneliness causing, in some places, more deaths than the virus?

I know one man whose only contact with his wife for months has been via the telephone. (She is essentially a prisoner in solitary confinement.) According to websites, the East has more deaths from “the epidemic of loneliness” in some areas than from the virus.

I told a health department worker that their advice doesn’t work. Virus infections have been increasing and decreasing for nine months. Recently infections here have been down, but today’s paper (Oct. 20) said there is another surge in numbers.

In the past, when people got a contagious virus, they were quarantined. Sometimes that involved many people, but the rest of society continued normally — schools, businesses, sports, entertainment, churches, etc.

Let’s stop the fear-mongering and return to rational treatment of the disease.

ALLEN MARSH

Post Falls