Dear Editor:
Warren [Hecht], who would not agree that, during this pandemic, it can only be helpful that one is thinking positively? However, as usual, you find fault with President Trump, whether justified or not.
At the beginning of your article, you write, “There will be a time to write about the incompetence and arrogant behavior that led us to the current situation.” This pandemic has affected 147 countries. This worldwide plague is unprecedented. If not for Trump’s foresight when he closed all flights to and from China, the numbers would have been far more catastrophic. Just look at Italy or Spain, who had open-door policies and are suffering the consequences of their actions. For Mr. Trump’s efforts, he was called xenophobic and a racist! He did this when the Democrats were busy with their impeachment trial.
“Truth matters. Those who have made a career of telling lies and distortions are finding out that this playbook is not working when it comes to the coronavirus.” Mr. Hecht, are you referring to Nancy Pelosi, who insisted on adding funding for her abortion policies to the stimulus package? Or are you referring to the money earmarked for the Kennedy Center?
“Then it was disclosed a few days ago that Republican Senator Richard Burr sold stock after a private briefing on the coronavirus.” Does Mr. Hecht also mention that Diane Feinstein, the Democratic Senator from California, was also implicated? Nope!
“In the absence of leadership from Washington, the governors have stepped up to the plate.” Another dig at President Trump. However, Governors Andrew Cuomo of New York and Gavin Newsom of California, who are staunch Democratic Party supporters, have complimented the president on his efforts and leadership. Of course they want more for their states, but overall they have worked well tegether.
Michael Rollhaus
Dear Editor:
Identifying the Corona Virus as the Wuhan Virus is not racist or xenophobic. Many previous world wide endemics were identified by their geographic place of origin. Remember MERS (Middle East respiratory syndrome) and the West Nile virus? The evidence points to China experiencing the first case of Corona Virus in the Wuhan province in November 2019. Coincidence that China’s one and only military biological warfare lab is located in Wuhan? Could there have been an accidental released of the virus? We may never know. Why did they wait until January 20th before local officials confirmed that this virus spread human-to-human? Even worse, the World Health Organization declared on January 15th, 2020 “there is no clear evidence of sustained human-to-human transmissions and there are no infections reported among health care workers.” These statements delayed the start of critical efforts of many other nations as the serious of the situation was kept hidden from the world. If China had contained and quarantined a month or more earlier, this outbreak could have been been significantly reduced around the world. The World Health Organization's benign naming of the disease “corona virus”, which indicates the spiked-like nature of the proteins which form a corona (a crown in Latin), instead of the more appropriate name SARS-Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, may have been deliberately done to destigmatize blame from China. This may have resulted in many to believe this affliction was no more severe than a cold or mild flu, hiding its deadly respiratory effects. Worse, China was critical of the United States, Australia and Singapore in February 2020 for cutting off travel for non-residents from mainland China by saying they had flouted World Health Organization recommendations and were “sowing panic” among the public.
China owes financial reimbursement to other nations for the deaths and monetary costs incurred due to their obvious negligence. Let the International World Court decide China's fate when this crises is over as to financial penalties owed.
Larry Penner