Dr. Rhoads Stevens again showed his profound misunderstanding of epidemiology and public health (“Over- reacting won’t help in next disease outbreak,” Star-Advertiser, March 20).
He put scare quotes around the word “pandemic,” treating the COVID-19 pandemic with cynicism, when anyone can confirm it killed more than 6.8 million people worldwide and more than 1.1 million people in the United States, according to the World Health Organization.
For the last two years, COVID-19 has been the third leading cause of death in the U.S. This past year alone, it killed more than 267,000 people.
Stevens mentions Hawaii COVID-19 deaths, but he should focus on state death rates. In previous letters, he’s praised the COVID-19 response of Oklahoma, which had a high death rate of 453 people per 100,000. Hawaii has a low death rate of 124 per 100,000. That is something to commemorate, not denigrate.
Elliott Stevens
Seattle
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