To the editor:

My fellow senior citizens, is there any reason left to vote for this president’s re-election? It’s become clear what his approach to the pandemic has been all along: cut back testing, forget about masks, encourage crowded rallies, and just let everybody get it. Sometimes this is called “herd immunity.” It sounds like a plan, but really is no plan at all. The more accurate description would be “giving up.”

Let’s do some math. To achieve “herd immunity” at least 70% of the population has to get it. Of the U.S. population of 327 million, that’s 229 million sick people. If the fatality rate for COVID-19 is 5% (which is what the president told Bob Woodward it would be back in February), this means that under the Trump “plan” he’s OK with over 11 million Americans dying. Guess who most of those 11 million will be? Certainly a lot of us seniors, but it probably won’t be the “senior” in the White House who, unlike you and me, has everyone around him tested every day. So his “plan” actually is, “everybody get it (except me).”

And we don’t even know yet the long-term effects of this virus on the other millions who get it and don’t die. Heart problems have been reported, and thyroid problems. We don’t even know if recovery brings lasting immunity. Virus infections can have long-term effects – many years after chicken pox comes shingles, post-polio syndrome can emerge 40 years later, herpes and HIV linger in the body forever.

Your neighbor with the “Trump” sign in front of his house is a nice person who doesn’t realize all this. You should tell him about it.

Then there is Social Security. Trump has said he wants to eliminate the payroll tax that supports it. If he does, Social Security disability payments will end in 2021 and all Social Security will end in 2023. If your kids have a Trump sign in their yard it must mean they are already saving to build that extra room on their house for you to move in.

I hope your family and friends aren’t OK with all this. It seems like all Republican office-holders are. They even want all the unpaid college athletes to risk their health to entertain us. We need Mindy Kimmel, Dan Feehan, Tina Smith and Joe Biden in office. They actually care about us.

Thomas Kuster

New Ulm