To the editor:
This is in response to Nicholas P. Provenzo’s letter to the editor, “We have rights even in a pandemic,” in the April 30 Alexandria Times. While you practice safe actions with regard to COVID-19, you should know better than to support others who don’t.
Yes, we all have rights as U.S. citizens, but one of those rights does not include putting others in what could be mortal danger because we feel that it is our right to do so. Do you want to expose vulnerable people who have risk factors such as being over 65, being a smoker, having high blood pressure or heart disease? They are the ones who are more likely to die of COVID-19.
This pandemic has been likened to a war. And we all have to follow the rules in order to win that war. Realize the possibility that some people who read your opinion here will act on it and be more likely to expose others who in turn will expose yet more. You must realize that this is how epidemics and pandemics come about.
This is a pandemic. They might unwisely lift restrictions in one state and it could spread again across the country. We could be right back where we started months ago with all of our previous efforts for naught. Let’s all follow the guidelines now for our common goal – the end of the pandemic. Let’s all do the right thing.
-Barbara Leaf, Alexandria
