Since I miss teaching, I decided to grade Mr. Balentine’s latest English essay. I gave him three extra points for using alliteration in his “Pandemic pet peeves, part II,” but an F for research. If he had done his research he would be less confused by so many things. He would know that no evidence has been produced that the coronavirus came from a lab. But we could probably be better informed if Trump had not pulled our scientists out of the various global groups studying and preparing for pandemics. We had people in Wuhan whose job it was to assess any unusual and potentially dangerous health threats, until Trump removed them and cut funding.
Secondly, John would be aware, as is the media, that according to the National Bureau of Economic Research, “Protests did not cause a significant increase in coronavirus infection.” However, numerous studies by public health experts show that reopening bars, restaurants and having large indoor gatherings did contribute to outbreaks of the virus. We had our own hot spot here in Maine with the super spreader event at Big Moose Inn in Millinocket, resulting in 60 infections and one death so far. The governors and mayors Balentine vilifies actually, unlike him, paid attention to epidemiologists and other pandemic experts and have effectively balanced the needs of the economy and people’s health.
John is wrong when he says “critical thinking is in critical condition.” If his reasoning is any example, it is dead. He is right, however, that a 15-day shutdown was ridiculous; it needed to be more like several months, as was done in much of Europe. Many states closed down too late, and opened up too early under pressure from business lobbies. That is why we still can’t return to normalcy and why my pet peeve is pundits who publish propaganda.
Susan Chichetto
Bath
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