Letter to the editor: What's the thinking on 'living our lives'?

Headlines in the Dec. 13 Trib included “Calls flood ambulance services” and “Hospitals plead for public’s help.” Excela Health Chief Medical Officer Dr. Carol Fox describes staff holding the phone for a dying covid patient to hear a hymn sung by a pastor, and others holding the hands of patients as they die, alone. An EMT sees a “giant up-tick after the holiday of people not listening.”

While doctors plead for the public’s help, North Huntingdon taxpayer dollars employ a solicitor who says of a commissioners meeting, “I’d pack the place. I think the guy (Gov. Tom Wolf) is out of his mind” (“North Huntingdon says ‘no’ to Wolf’s limits on indoor crowds”).

The next day’s Trib reported that a restaurant owner declares, “I think we’re old enough to make our own decisions on how we live our lives,” so he will allow indoor dining (“Restaurants along Leechburg Road in Lower Burrell run the gamut of compliance with pandemic restrictions”).

If you knew you tested positive for covid-19 but had no symptoms, would you still decide to attend a meeting or go to work at a restaurant? Many people have no symptoms but if tested actually would be positive. Many with no symptoms are attending meetings, shopping and dining out, with no masks, and infecting others. Is this their thought-out decision “on how to live their lives”?

Vickie Oles

Ligonier Township