The COVID failure I find important

To the Editor;

I found the Feb. 25 column written by Matthew Gagnon, “The Myth of American Failure on COVID” interesting because it didn’t really address some of the most basic issues in our nation’s “failure” as I understand it. The comparison to other nations’ responses to COVID-19 are inevitable, and I appreciate his work to make the numbers and statistics more equitable by population and area.

A U.S. failure in comparison to any other nation is inevitable, but not important to me. The failure I am most mindful of is the politicization of simple issues like the wearing of masks and social distancing when these can help prevent a more widespread transmission of the disease.  

The work of our national and state Centers for Disease Control was undermined and ridiculed by persons in the political and media worlds. This hampered efforts of those with scientific and public health knowledge to be heard in an unbiased way. The now more than 500,000 deaths is a clear witness to the damage that this informational obstruction may have caused.

Bruce Burnham

Old Town