Letter: Lessons learned from two years of pandemic

1) Public health problems should be handled by public health experts, not politicians or judges. (The CDC was established to rid our country of malaria. With our current approach, some states would still have malaria.)

2) Vaccines are the key to keeping our society healthy. (The reason it has taken so long to immunize our preschool children against COVID-19 is to ensure it is both safe and effective for them.)

3) School-age children belong in school. (We need, however, to keep them as safe as possible there.)

4) Our society must treasure its teachers. (So many families learned this early in the pandemic as they struggled to teach their children as best they could.)

5) Grandparents and grandchildren both thrive on hugs. (Let's hug at least twice as much from here on out.)

6) Masks work; they have helped us throughout the pandemic. (We may be able to fully lay them aside soon, but let's retrieve them when we "only have a little cold" and let's stay home when we have a fever.)

7) Let's continue to wash our hands and use hand sanitizer frequently (especially after handshakes and public doorknobs.)

8) Deciding whether or not to protect ourselves from others' illnesses is indeed our right. (Protecting others from our own potential contagions, however, is our responsibility.)

9) Let's move forward from this pandemic with a greater appreciation for science. (Our opinions and instincts are no substitute in such matters.)

10) It's not over until it's over. (The time may come when nearly all around the globe are immunized and safe, but it's only wishful thinking until then.)

Bruce Bedingfield

Hoffman Estates