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We must unite to defeat the pandemic

To the Journal editor:

Recently, some Republican leaders have been critically vocal about how the last 13 military lives were lost in the Afghanistan war. Lives matter. Or is it just certain lives, under specific conditions? I say this because the war on COVID-19 doesn’t seem to have the same priority with some politicians.

There was a time when our country faced the threat of contagious disease as if at war. Never would we have overcome the threat from measles, chickenpox, rubella, or polio if we stood as a nation divided.

The idea of mandated vaccines is not new. For decades, we have required it in our schools, in the military, and of those wishing to immigrate to our country.

The wearing of masks, social distancing, and washing hands were known, effective safety measures against the spreading of the virus.

By spring of 2021, an effective COVID-19 vaccine was made readily available and at no cost to you.

Currently, only 53% of the country is fully vaccinated, and every several days, we have more die from COVID-19 than those who died in the tragedy of 9/11.

Since the start of the pandemic, more Americans have died from COVID-19 (over 650,000) than died in WW2, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War combined. And still, we have certain Republican leaders pushing back against medically endorsed safety measures.

The Peterson Center on Healthcare, Health System Tracker, September 14, 2021, listed that Medicare fee-for-service COVID-19 hospitalizations average a cost of $24,033 each. Their findings further indicated that there were 32,000 COVID-19 hospitalizations among the unvaccinated in June, 68,000 in July, and 187,000 in August. Do the math and it totals $6.9 billion to treat and hospitalize adults for a preventable disease in a three-month period.

A sad, ironic fact is that most of those now dying from COVID-19 were unvaccinated (September 10, 2021, CDC Weekly Mortality Report), and residing in those states presided over by the very same divisive Republican leaders.

The Biden administration, along with national health officials, doctors and nurses are waging a full-out war against the national threat of COVID-19.

We are in a pandemic. Stop being a political pawn. Stop endangering the health and lives of others. Step-up and unite during this national health crisis. After all, doing your part is as simple as wearing a mask when needed, and getting a little poke in the arm.

MAX GRAVES

Marquette

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