Herd immunity sham

The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette has done a huge public service by providing comprehensive free coverage of covid-19, including the outstanding “Lives Remembered” series. But this past Sunday the opinion piece, ”A compassionate covid strategy,” stood in glaring contrast to the front-page headlines.

‘A compassionate covid strategy” was perhaps the worst headline possible to describe an attempt during a worldwide pandemic to influence public opinion against the simple measures that all reputable health authorities agree are necessary to slow down illnesses and deaths. The article proposes “herd immunity” by allowing young people to go out without masks or social distancing until enough of the population gets it that the virus no longer spreads.

There are huge holes in this argument. It is not known if catching covid provides any immunity from future covid infections, and there is simply no way to completely divide our culture between people who are 65 and older, and those younger. Plus, quite a few younger people are a greater risk for complications because 50 percent of Arkansans have underlying health conditions.

Rates of new covid infections in Arkansas are on the way toward tripling. Hospitals are warning about running out of capacity, and healthcare workers are being overworked while regularly facing a deadly virus and the possibility of bringing that virus home to immune-compromised loved ones. What’s compassionate about loading bodies of loved ones into refrigerator trucks or performing mass burials like they did in New York City? Overloading the health-care system is not a display of compassion.

The ADG did a disservice running this discredited herd immunity opinion piece, and I hope will give equal space soon to the health authorities who warn we could face very dark days ahead this winter if the public doesn’t take the simple precautions of social distancing, wearing masks and hand-washing.

BECKY GILLETTE Eureka Springs