LETTER: Public health experts, the virus and mistakes

In his Wednesday column, Victor Joecks, in order to support his defense of our basic freedoms, completely ignores that things change. It is embarrassing to attack Anthony Fauci and others for something said early in the pandemic, which later was proven to be wrong, as proof of how wrong scientists can be.

Mr. Joecks tries to prove a point by providing only the facts he needs. Yes, Nevada has a higher per capita death rate than Florida — apparently proof that states with “harsher restrictions” don’t necessarily do better preventing COVID deaths. The reality is that there are 27 other states, both red and blue, strict and not, that have a higher death rate.

But it was the clear intention of most scientists and politicians to provide as much information to us in order to help save our lives. They asked us, and still do, to modify or change our personal freedoms for a hopefully short period so we would not die.

Space between desks can now be three feet instead of six, and ships will no longer fall off the face of the Earth because we learned that it is round and not flat. Mr. Joecks may have temporarily lost a personal freedom or two, but there are 560,000-plus who have permanently lost all of theirs.