Trump, GOP platform cause unnecessary deaths

Ken Rensink (‘Reason is being blinded by politics,” March 26) asserted that hatred of Donald Trump by “media, Democratic leaders, and our supposed intellectual elites” has “blinded all reason.” He further claimed “the scientific community has a long history of naming viruses based on where they originated. Spanish Flu, German Measles, Lime (sic) disease, Zika, West Nile, and now Wuhan virus.”

As a professional microbiologist, I must correct Mr. Rensink’s error. Scientists do sometimes name pathogen isolates based on where they were first observed, but that does not signify origin. And names are never ethnic — that comes only from xenophobic politicians. We refer to the ‘Spanish’ influenza in quotes to acknowledge it did not originate in Spain, despite its colloquial name. The correct name for the current virus is SARSCoV-2, meaning the second corona virus known to cause Sudden Acute Respiratory Syndrome, called COVID-19 for “Corona Virus Infectious Disease 2019.”

While we can fault both political extremes, Mr. Rensink is wrong in saying all reason has been blinded. Only one party has abandoned all reason: the Republicans under Trump, now officially anti-reason, antitruth, and anti-science. In this pandemic, their platform has resulted in the unnecessary deaths of many Americans, and the party and its leader should be held solely responsible. If Trump choses to disregard his scientific advisors and call this the “Chinese virus,” it only displays (again) his racism and xenophobia. Any hatred of him comes from that which he sows, but has not blinded reason by the left.

— Gordon Wolfe, Chico