Tim Andrew ("No happy ending," July 1 Gazette) is unaware that viruses cause disease and COVID-19 is a disease caused by a coronavirus. Measles is described in the dictionary as "an acute contagious disease that is caused by a morbillivirus." Plagues of all kinds are often viral diseases, and viruses are the cause of many other types of disease. But generally, his letter and point of view reflects the mentality that drives the neoliberal system and is engendered by it. It is all about exorbitant profit for the wealthy, and only incidentally or indirectly about the welfare of the great masses of people.
What he urges sounds a lot like eugenics, or sacrificing of the vulnerable, the unfit – as he puts it: "nature trying to trim the herd." He blames smokers and those on poor diets for their problems with COVID-19 but bemoans deaths from other conditions and diseases due to lack of hospital space taken up by COVID-19 victims. But why not blame them as well? Not everyone needs a bypass. Is lifestyle the critical and blameworthy factor?
This is a novel virus and very little is known about it. It seems to have mutated but not in the direction of lessened infectiousness or lethality. Those countries that have ignored preventative measure like distancing, wearing masks in public and among groups indoors, quarantine and self-isolation have fared much worse than those that have not. The record is available online for all who are interested to see. Children are vulnerable and in fact have an added liability not seen in adult victims: life-endangering abnormalities in arteries and veins. And now that large numbers of seniors have died, the most vulnerable demographic are those between 20 and 39. There is also something essentially racist in mentioning, "Who knew the sky above India was blue?" It was certainly not the fault of the masses of poor in India that that is a surprise to some.
The virus has also engendered mindless racism toward the Chinese who have nothing to do with its proliferation. Chinese Canadians are for one thing Canadian, but Chinese citizens are equally innocent. In fact, the racism and chauvinism directed at China and Russia are both dangerous and unfounded. Plenty of finger-pointing could be directed at our own part of the world, and those we have encouraged in ignoring the real dangers inherent in this virus: it might require not one but numerous vaccines as it mutates in ways we can only speculate about.
One fact seems obvious: attitudes like Tim Andrew's will only coarsen society and cheapen the value of life. Another is: we have to decide what we really believe in – exorbitant profits or a sane and human society. We can’t have both. Other systems are possible. Socialism for the masses instead of the wealthy stands out as a possible solution.
Doris Wrench Eisler, St. Albert
