As your readers adjust, or not, to Kim McGahey’s column, I offer two comments:

First, both he and his critics are correct about their interpretation of COVID-19 fatality rates. McGahey cites a 0.2% rate while his critics cite a higher rate of 1.2%. McGahey is referring to the infection fatality rate, while his critics use the COVID-19 fatality rate. Infectious disease experts and epidemiologists in Europe and the U.S. have concluded from the results of widespread testing that up to 80% of COVID-19 infections are either minor or asymptomatic. Thus, for every person dying from a COVID-19 infection, the CFR, there are four to five people who survive and often never seek medical attention, the IFR. Of course, these numbers may change as more testing is done and more is known about the extent of the disease.

Second, 45 years in the emergency medical profession taught me humility and the importance of varied approaches to everyday medical and traumatic conditions. Science grows by the testing of hypotheses. A Google or Twitter or New York Times that censored different hypotheses because they didn’t like the source or the conclusion would be harmful to the advancement of science and medicine. Kudos to the Summit Daily News for not being afraid to expose their readers to different opinions.