Editor’s note: This letter is in response to the letter, “A time to stand,” published Dec. 9.

While Mr. Cochran’s eloquence is admirable in describing how we should not be cowering in our homes while this pandemic rages, because the steps that have been taken by our governments, by implication seem draconian and uncalled for, this is a situation that has not been seen in our community or the world for over 100 years.

To rail against these restrictions and call for a rebellion against them is dangerous and uncalled for. If our state governments had not acted quickly in the face of this pandemic one can only guess at the multitudes of suffering that would have completely overwhelmed our health care systems, as is being seen in some of the states and countries that have opted for less stringent guidelines.

To claim that these restrictions are impeding on our freedoms is to completely ignore the severity of this disease. It is plain to see that the countries that acted swiftly and decisively with severe restrictions were the ones that are relatively free of this pandemic today. Our national leader’s failure to take this dire situation seriously, even though he knew how dangerous it was, is one of the main reasons we are suffering more deaths than any other country and the reason that many of his followers continue to flaunt these rules because of the supposed suppression of their “freedom.”

Mr. Cochran seems to feel that once this pandemic is under control that we will somehow never regain our freedom of association and that somehow “Big Government” will have permanently damaged our rights. These same type of restrictions were put on our populace 100 years ago and they did not linger once the danger was past, I would implore everyone to ignore this type of doomsday ranting, all of us following the rules our governments have employed will see us through this, choosing to ignore them only continues to cause more problems.

Larry Benson

Enumclaw