LETTER: Lucky to live in Pa.
We residents of Washington County are quite lucky that we live in a state with a Democratic governor, namely Gov. Tom Wolf, who has taken the COVID-19 pandemic seriously. He has kept us from the runaway positive numbers like those of the southern states, whose Republican governors went along with President Trump’s cavalier attitude toward this deadly disease.
None of us would be in this mess if it weren’t for Trump. Not only did he ignore our Centers for Disease Control doctors for months while COVID-19 took a firm hold in many cities, he was behind the conspiracies that caused many of his followers to believe that the disease isn’t real. How can an epidemic be fought when 40-plus percent of people don’t even believe in it?
We continue to see a worsening of the situation after he encouraged early opening of states from lockdown. Now he wants schools to reopen. We may very well see a generation of traumatized children who will feel responsible for the death of a parent or grandparent brought about by him or her bringing the virus home. Worse yet, we may see many childhood COVID-19 cases. We now know, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics, that many children are among the 5.55 million positive cases in this country, some resulting in death – a fact denied by Trump, who stated as late as Aug. 9 that children are “essentially immune” from COVID-19. Another costly lie. Incredible!
Our local Trump supporters blame all of our current woes on Democrats, even though Democrats have no real power to curb this epidemic – only Trump does. But his truly irrational thinking will not allow that.
We are in a war with this disease. We have lost 173,000 Americans. Every one of these deaths represents a person who suffered through a horrible death, was loved and is missed.
I am really tired of not being able to leave my house for fear of getting a disease that will kill me, and Trump does nothing.
He should use the War Powers Act to create more PPE, testing products and testing labs to fight this. He should make it clear to his base that this virus is here, is dangerous and that he needs their help in fighting it. Trump acts like he is totally powerless to do anything about the pandemic.
He has made it much, much worse than it ever needed to be. He is passing the blame and passing the buck.
Peggy Foflygen
Washington