Brunswick Beacon, 12.29.22
Nationwide, COVID cases and hospitalizations are more than 40% higher than at Thanksgiving. Brunswick County has seen an 87% increase in the last 14 days. (New York Times, Dec. 21.) Americans aren’t masking, leading to more positive flu tests than any single week during any flu season on record. Add the outbreak of RSV and we are experiencing a “Triple-demic” that has put many hospitals near capacity and emptied store shelves of cold and flu medications. That’s why COVID misinformation, like that spread by Henry Weissenberger in his Dec. 22 letter, must be corrected.
Weissenberger claims COVID is not a “serious disease,” it presents no danger to young people, and COVID vaccines cause “potentially serious side effects, especially for healthy young men.” All are dangerously untrue.
Weissenberger cites no authority for his misinformation apart from his “brief survey” of unidentified “literature.” In fact, the most trustworthy health organizations you know refute him. Google “I'm a Healthy Young Person. Why Should I Get a COVID Vaccine?” and read Johns Hopkins explanation: “Vaccines are safe and effective. Not getting vaccinated puts you at much higher risk of severe COVID-19, which can make you seriously sick for a long period of time and possibly cause lasting damage—even if you’re young and healthy. As more and more people are vaccinated, the virus will have fewer people to infect, and community transmission will go down. Every person that gets vaccinated brings us one step closer to ending the pandemic.” The Mayo Clinic and St. Jude’s Hospital for Children agree.
As Fox News Host Neil Cavuto says: “It’s not about left or right, not who’s conservative or liberal. I'm begging you to think of what's good not only for yourself but for those around you. Life is too short to be an ass. Stop the deaths. Stop the suffering. Please, get vaccinated.”
Be responsible. Get vaccinated and boosted.
Mike Rush
Leland