Letter to the Editor: Lewis County’s Casual Attitude Toward Masks Catching Up to It

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On May 1, I stopped in a local retail establishment where there were five other customers. None of them were wearing a mask, nor did they appear to have one. While living in King County, I spend a good deal of time in Lewis County and am used to seeing many people not wearing a mask even when in public places (shopping, etc.).

Knowing that Lewis County had few COVID-19 cases early on during the pandemic, the early lack of mask wearing was, if not ideal, at least understandable. But with the pandemic still ongoing, I began to wonder, as I watched these five unmasked customers, whether this neglect of mask wearing was still understandable. A brief review of reported COVID-19 cases and deaths during the last three months was quite revealing.

Currently, Lewis County residents are now dying at a rate equal to that of King County residents. Apparently, this causal attitude toward mask wearing is finally catching up with Lewis County residents.  It’s not a statistic to be proud of.



 

Robert Williams

Seattle