To the Editor:

The Echo’s November 18 lead article falsely proclaims, “Governor says cancel Thanksgiving and Christmas.” No one is cancelling Thanksgiving or Christmas or any other holiday. 

 

Leavenworth is now a hotspot for the virus, and the number of cases in Chelan and Douglas Counties has skyrocketed to 685.6 per 100,000 over the last 14 days. Pointing to this dangerous rise in COVID-19 cases in our city, county and state, Governor Inslee is urging (not mandating) Washingtonians to limit social gatherings to immediate households through December 14. In other words, Governor Inslee is counting on us to recognize the dangerous spread of Covid and take personal responsibility to do what we can to control this pandemic. Crowded indoor gatherings are primary sources of contagion. This includes large Thanksgiving family gatherings. My husband and I will enjoy our dinner alone. We figure it’s worth missing a special family dinner so that we can be around to celebrate Thanksgiving with our family next year. We can still have an outdoor, spaced gathering, visit virtually with our Alaska family, and give thanks for our blessings.

 

While acknowledging COVID-19 to be “a serious disease [that] can have deadly consequences,” the publisher goes on to say that “the danger is not as significant as once thought,” and urges “a serious discussion about the issue of COVID-19 policy.” After contradicting himself, he offers not a serious and helpful discussion, but three articles supporting the “insignificance” of the pandemic and the primary importance of “freedom.”

 

One writer calls the pandemic “fake,” citing the 14th century Bubonic Plague as a “real pandemic,” implying that COVID, having so far killed 1.34 million people worldwide, is not. He cites U.S. COVID-related deaths as 204,613 on October 16. One month later, on November 20, according to Worldometer, that number is more than 260,000 — close to the number of Americans killed in World War II, and more than five times the number of those killed in the Vietnam War. None of these numbers is insignificant. The COVID death toll doesn’t include the growing number of “long-haulers,” those whose effects of the disease linger still, such as a friend of ours who has been ill with COVID effects for nine months. This same writer calls governors implementing measures to control the pandemic “little human republic dictators.” 

 

Another writer seems to embrace “freedom” above all else. What freedom? Freedom to infect others? He refers to leaders who impose “arbitrary and whimsical mandates . . . to control and oppress the governed.” He accuses such leaders of regarding him and his followers as “dangerous” because they are “a free people who are united and have faith in the living God.” He encourages no change in our Thanksgiving observance as “an act of defiance.” This is what is dangerous — insisting on freedom to infect others no matter the cost.

 

It is striking that in this entire issue of the Echo, there is no perspective from scientists, nor from medical professionals who risk their lives every day to treat people who are paying the price for others’ twisted concept of freedom. One article in this Echo, however, gives some important advice on how to “avoid crisis and conflict” during COVID. Advice includes: “Avoid judgment,” and “avoid language that could make another person feel anxious or defensive.” I suggest the publisher and the other writers read it before writing falsehoods like “Governor cancels Thanksgiving.” We will still observe Thanksgiving but — as Governor Inslee urges — may we do it safely.

 

Susan Butruille

Leavenworth