LETTER: In name of liberty, protestors would liberate the coronavirus

To Ozaukee Press:

Thank you to all frontline medical workers, police, firefighters, grocery and municipal workers and others sacrificing their health by risking exposure to the coronavirus to keep the public safe, fed and healthy as possible.

I am appalled at the people who are protesting the governor’s extension of his safer-at-home order because they think it infringes on their civil liberties. The governor is trying to save their lives in following recommendations from the CDC, the president’s coronavirus task force and other public health organizations. The governor is not attempting to take away anyone’s civil liberties. The protestors are worried about their liberty, but all they are doing is liberating the virus.

As a combat veteran, I have seen people sacrifice their life and limbs to protect our country, not unlike the frontline workers mentioned above. The people protesting the governor are not sacrificing anything.  They are having a good old time honking their horns, disobeying the order to remain six feet from one another and waving their “Don’t Tread on Me” flags while the rest of the public quietly sits at home in the effort to stay clear of the virus for the benefit of us all.

The opening of our economy should be driven by data and science. “We the people” should not be sacrificed for the dollar bill. I get it that some people want the economy opened up, but it is not safe now. The virus has not burned out yet. It is still in the air and hopping from one person to the next.  

I hope the protestors can show some sacrifice and obey the safer-at-home order until it will be safer to open the economy. Sacrifice for your country as others are doing and have done. We are all in this together.  And, please don’t tread on me and “we the people.”

Ted Poull
Saukville