Can we please, as the public, have a little more info than just how many are infected with COVID-19 today, the current hospitalizations and the death rate? It seems, with contact tracing and the required follow-up, that it isn’t that big of a leap to also track:1. Of those infected, how many are just using outpatient medical care and are not hospitalized?2. Of those infected, how many are just isolating at home for 10 days with minimal to no care?
Those stats, balanced with the current data, will provide the public with a much better assessment of the pandemic. Anything less just ends up supporting the old journalistic standby of “if it bleeds, it leads.” The current reporting leaves blanks in information and just instills fear in the populace.
Give us a full picture. Information is king. Anything less, and the public will fill in the blanks with supposition.
Brian Webb
Anchorage
Have something on your mind? Send to letters@adn.com or click here to submit via any web browser. Letters under 200 words have the best chance of being published. Writers should disclose any personal or professional connections with the subjects of their letters. Letters are edited for accuracy, clarity and length.