When freedom means death

I am stunned by the unvaccinated “freedom lovers” who jeopardize the health and life of others, filling our hospitals with COVID-19 patients and demanding superhuman care-giving from our dedicated exhausted healthcare workers. Hospitals are forced to prioritize COVID-19 patients above those who have waited for necessary but elective surgeries because if COVID-19 is left unchecked it is a larger threat to the world. New variants are free to mutate and reproduce in these unprotected people. Does “freedom” really extend to life threatening endangerment of your neighbors?

When smoking takes 420,000 lives per year and second hand smoke with over 70 toxic cancerous chemicals cause 50,000 deaths per year (CDC.gov), the insurance companies raised premiums on smokers because it is more expensive to care for their complex diseases.

When motor vehicle accidents caused 32,000 deaths per year (CDC.gov), the insurance companies had no problem raising premiums on high risk drivers.

COVID-19, with all its variants, has caused 633,000 deaths and many long-COVID morbidities. How many more deaths will it take to put additional insurance premiums on folks with unbridled “freedom” that endangers all people worldwide, not just their neighbors?

Joan Cross

La Conner