Takes issue with COVID news story

To Publisher Bill Forhan,

I take issue with your news/editorial titled “Covid – Beyond Masks” in the Sept. 15, 2021 issue of your newspaper. On the same day I read your thoughts, I also read a letter in the Sept. 15 issue of The Wenatchee World from Dr. Charles Hogness. You write “They (Confluence/Central Washington Hospital) currently have 60 COVID patients undergoing treatment.” Dr. Hogness writes “Today at Central Washington Hospital where I work as a Hospitalist, there are 56 patients hospitalized with COVID.” Later, he writes, “46 of the 56 hospitalized patients are unvaccinated, 10 of our 12 ICU patients are unvaccinated, 6 of our 7 patients on a ventilator are unvaccinated.”
It is clear that hospital admissions are the unvaccinated, why isn’t it clear to you?
As of Sept. 16, 667,000 people have died of Covid out of approximately 328 million U.S. residents. That is more than all of the patriotic Americans who’ve sacrificed their lives from World Wars I, II, Korea and Vietnam. Through my long lifetime, I’ve routinely seen protestors against war, yet now we see protestors against vaccines and masks. Seriously?
Another factor people are not thinking about – health insurance companies rates will increase – who do you think is paying for hospital care of the unvaccinated? “Not me,” you state, as you also say “Not me” regarding getting vaccinated or (at the very least) not wearing a mask. Sadly, what I see is that the “Not me” protestors will continue saying that until they see their family and/or friends die from COVID.
As each week passes, we see more residents become extremely ill or die from COVID, yet their death notice reads “a short illness.” How many have died of COVID, but the authors of those notices (often family) don’t state that?
We are all weary of COVID – if we wear masks and get vaccinated, I am certain the surge will drop dramatically and (maybe) our life can go back to normal.

Gaylen Willett,
Chelan