COVID-19 is America’s No. 1 enemy. COVID-19 has killed 671,000-plus Americans.
Over 2,000 of them were fellow South Dakotans. We’ve lost more people to COVID-19 than we did in our own Civil War (the deadliest war America has ever fought – 620,000 people died).
On Sept. 16, when Brookings residents held a “Freedom Rally” in response to vaccine mandates, 3,145 Americans died from COVID-19. That’s more deaths from COVID-19 on that one day than the total number of people who died on 9/11 (2,997).
We’ve lost more people to COVID-19 than we did in World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War – combined.
We’ve lost too many Americans to COVID-19. But we can save our country from this terror. We know how to stop it. Vaccinations are safe.
They are effective. They are not political. COVID-19 doesn’t care who you are, who you voted for, or what you believe. And neither does the vaccine. One has been killing us. The other can save us. The only way to stop our shared enemy is to shoot at it – with a vaccine.
Note: This letter contains my personal perspectives as a private citizen of Brookings. My comments here do not represent my employer in any way.
