#Middlebury
Letter to the Editor
December 7, 2020
To the Editor:
I am motivated to write in response to having read of a large wedding permitted to be held in the midst of the present pandemic.
I write this on the 79th anniversary of Pearl Harbor and 9/11 is several months past its 19th anniversary, when the United States suffered 2,403 and 2,977 deaths respectively and after which the country was galvanized into action. In that nearly 4 years after December 7, America would lose another 419,000 lives to defeat the enemy.
As of today, Connecticut deaths alone exceed twice Pearl Harbor and New York City deaths alone eight times 9/11. The present trajectory of the pandemic makes it possible the United States will lose the equivalent of a Pearl Harbor or 9/11 daily and equal World War II deaths at one year.
Vaccines will not be administered to everyone in time to spare us the grim winter ahead. I have seen daily for 9 months what this merciless virus is capable of.
I cannot underestimate the importance of compulsive use of masks, distancing, no social gathering, especially of large groups, and hand hygiene.
The doctors, nurses and other health providers cannot spare us from the horror to come if every person is not galvanized into action to thwart the spread of SARS-COV-2.
Respectfully submitted
Michael F. Simms III, M.D.
Editor’s notes: SARS-COV-2 is commonly referred to as COVID-19. Dr. Simms is an infectious disease specialist.
