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Letter: COVID-19 vs. traffic fatalities

(Shuji Kajiyama | AP file photo) Cars are caught in traffic jam near a beach in Kamakura, Kanagawa prefecture, near Tokyo, Sunday, May 17, 2020. While Kanagawa is still under a coronavirus state of emergency, the pandemic is pitting those willing to follow requests for self-restraint against a sizable minority resisting the calls to stay home.

Without getting into a discussion about false equivalence, think about this.

According to 2018 Insurance Institute for Highways Safety statistics, there were 11.2 highway fatalities per 100,000 people in the United States. Compare that to the arguably under-reported and still increasing 28.2 COVID-19 deaths per 100,000 people.

Why would we not take the temporary precautions of maintaining social distance and wearing masks to fight a disease that is about to become three times more deadly than highway travel, and during just a few months.

Considering that highway accidents are not contagious and we have spent billions of dollars and have added inconveniences (e.g. seat belts) to make highway travel less deadly, let’s all suck it up for a few more months until there’s a vaccine and/or more effective treatments.

John H. Brandt, South Jordan

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