Letter to the editor: Small sacrifices would have prevented shutdown

It’s shutdown time again, and one more nail will be placed in the coffin of small businesses that have somehow managed to survive this pandemic.

There seems to be some confusion as to why it is again necessary to take this extreme approach. The reason is because some of you cannot follow simple rules and make small sacrifices. In case you are a little slow, you have had nine months to try to understand what is happening in the world. All you have been asked to do by the experts is make a few basic changes: social distance, wear a mask when you can’t, and avoid crowds.

I heard you say the virus would go away after the election. You said it is the same as the flu. I saw you argue with the elderly woman at Walmart when she asked you to wear a mask; you even mocked others for wearing a face covering.

Sadly, some of you consider yourself “pandemic patriots,” maintaining that you have a right to spew your potentially infectious droplets on others. How American of you. If you were around during times of greater sacrifice like World War II, we would be speaking German.

Someone please tell me when “we” became ignorant, self-entitled, selfish, spoiled brats.

Thomas C. Spallone

Hempfield