Dear Editor,

Sunday (March 22), Governor DeWine shut down the restaurants and bars in Ohio–What? Doesn’t Mike know that the food service jobs in Ohio are about 10% of the jobs in Ohio? Many of these affected people are rather low income people–what are they supposed to do? Will these people have jobs to go back to after this? Well, Mike says he is sorry about that.

Governments thrive on fear. It’s government’s way to gain power and exercise it on us. Let’s see, this virus originated in China. China was having big problems with the Hong Kong protests and they did not want to invade Hon Kong. How better to stop the riots than to make people fear getting together? Have you heard anything about the riots lately?

We are already in a recession because of government shut-downs, and we will be in a depression if Mike and his ilk keep shutting things down. Shut-downs are sort of the definition of a depression. But usually depressions are not self-inflicted except for Mao Zedong’s Cultural Revolution, Hugo Chavez, and others.

Fear is a powerful tool. Mike and his ilk are using fear to manipulate. Mike wants to be the hero that stopped this “killer plague”, and when it doesn’t amount to much–as it wouldn’t in any case, he will claim the credit for stopping this “pestilence”. Unfortunately Mike is leading the charge into an economic death spiral–just as the other “leaders” are.

Just as the main damage from the 09/11 attack was from the over reaction to the attack–not the attack, this over reaction to the coronavirus will do much more economic damage than the virus will.

There is this massive run on toilet paper–what does the virus have to do with toilet paper? Nothing. After all, it is among the few things still made in the U.S. People read on Facebook that everyone is buying toilet paper; therefore, they conclude that there will be a shortage. Why the shortage? Because everyone is buying it for no reason that relates to the virus. It would be rational for people to fear running out of medicine as most of it is made in China and India.

This isn’t a foodborne disease; it is a particulate matter/contact disease. So why did Mike shut down bars and restaurants but not the churches–where strangers are sitting together?

Yes, yes, there are going to be deaths from this virus. The CDC estimates that there were 61,099 flu related deaths in the 2017-2018 influenza season.

Did this cause shutdown and panic? No.

If Mike is so worried about deaths, why doesn’t he shut down the highways as there were 118,435 U.S. highway deaths reported over the last three years!

Mike let’s get things in perspective–instead of playing politics and destroying the economy.

Hugh Nile

Calcutta, Ohio