To the editor:

I am writing in response to Paul Platz’s April 11-12 Letter to Editor.

Paul was a classmate of mine. I’ve known him since the days of Lafayette grade school. I am not writing to pick a fight, my friend, but I feel a need to respond to your article.

You say your wallet is starting to hurt. Many are hurting – 355,108 people in Minnesota have filed for unemployment as of April 13.

You say “by the looks of the New Ulm Medical Clinic parking lot there is not much going on there.” I believe that’s because people are holding off on non-essential appointments. There IS a lot going on at our clinic and hospital — many dedicated employees are there working and will be ready to help us when we need it. Thanks to each and every one of them.

You suggest people find Professor Knut Wittkowski’s message on The College Fix site. I looked at that — he claims “the coronavirus could be ‘exterminated’ if we permitted most people to lead normal lives and sheltered the most vulnerable parts of society until the danger had passed.” I disagree with his thinking. And so, apparently does the Rockefeller University — this is from the University’s April 13 newsletter:

“The opinions that have been expressed by Knut Wittkowski, discouraging social distancing in order to hasten the development of herd immunity to the novel coronavirus, do not represent the views of The Rockefeller University, its leadership, or its faculty. Wittkowski was previously employed by Rockefeller as a biostatistician. He has never held the title of professor at Rockefeller.”

As a hog farmer, I’m sure you are familiar with the term “Biosecurity.” The APHIS Vet Services Dec. 2017 Information Sheet (aphis.usda.gov) article entitled “8 Essential Actions to Protect Pigs from Disease” touches on the subject.

#5 of the article states “Don’t Carry Disease Home – When you visit other hog facilities shower and change all your clothes when you get home – while in the shower, cough, spit and blow your nose to remove any viruses from your nose and lungs and wash them down the drain.”

#6 states – “Don’t let visitors and workers bring disease to your pigs – Make a ‘line of separation’ to keep them out of the pig area.”

#7 states – “Don’t let pigs bring disease home – Pigs that have been off the farm (at the vet, hog show or on loan for breeding) can bring disease home – Isolate them for 30 days – ask yourself: Is it worth risking the rest of your herd?”

This sounds similar to what we humans are trying to do to stop the spread of COVID 19 amongst “our herd.”

We all need to do our part to respect the rules and recommendations of our president, governor and medical experts and respect each other by following those rules for the good of all.

Kari (Nelson) Gleisner

New Ulm