Yes, friend, if you are out exercising your “rights” during this pandemic, you ARE being selfish

“I never thought I'd see the day where one would need to have papers to drive down the road freely in our country … I would have also never guessed that so many people would willingly give up their rights and want and expect the government to take care of them. In our great country, freedom requires people to be responsible … When that doesn't happen there are consequences, but what many are arguing for right now is a police state. … I don't want anyone to die, and I'm offended that just because I don't want what you want that I'm selfish and that I don't care about human life. … You are not a hero for self-quarantining … and if that is you doing your part - I dig it, but don't judge me if I'm not doing what you're doing. …” — a Facebook friend in Cheyenne

BY D. REED ECKHARDT

            Over the past several days I have lost friendships and offended strangers as I have defended my recent post urging Gov. Mark Gordon to issue a stay-at-home order for Wyoming. (https://bit.ly/2WHFcSZ) 

Nothing that had been said in response to my post has moved me one iota. And while it’s easy to see where President Trump is going with his plan to ease restrictions in some locations (surely Wyoming will be one of them), I believe

COVID-19 testing in Pennsylvania.

that is a formula only for a lengthened COVID-19 assault and hundreds of more deaths. Shutting things down to flatten the curve only makes sense to avoid eventually putting severe stresses on the state’s health-care system.

Look, I get it. Most, perhaps a majority of, Wyomingites treasure their rights and their independence. They chafe under virtually any governmental intervention and restriction. Being told to stay home or prove their essential work with documentation or anything of the sort runs again their grain and immediately causes them to push back — hard.

It also is clear to see that Americans are currently living under two realities. My Wyoming friends seem to see the current restrictions as an overreaction to what really is a little more than a cold and certainly no worse than previous flu outbreaks that did not marshal these kinds of responses. As with debate on such issues as climate change, they seek out and find reports that bolster their position. 

The numbers are clear: Only about a third of Republicans — and Wyoming is about as red a state as you can get — are seeing the current event as a crisis worthy of these kinds of actions. Nearly two-thirds of Democrats see it in just the opposite way, that such things as stay-at-home orders are essential to saving lives, even at severe costs to the workers and the economy.

For me, it’s much simpler than that. The bottom line is that all people in Wyoming should be doing what they can to not spread the virus. As I write this, Wyoming has 86 confirmed cases of COVID-19, including 19 in Laramie County, where I have my home. 

But surely there are many more. Testing is way behind the curve, which means no one knows the true number of cases. All we know for certain is that the virus is in the state, that it spreads rapidly and it is extremely dangerous for the elderly and those with compromised immune systems (at a minimum 10 times more deadly than the average flu). We also know that Wyoming is one of the oldest states in the nation in terms of its number of elderly residents.

Finally, one of the cultural touchstones in Wyoming is that its people look out for each other. That we care as much about our friends, neighbors and family as we care about ourselves.

So, yes, my Facebook friend, when you are out and about, exercising your rights to travel and to associate and whatever else you would do under normal circumstances, you are being selfish. You are potentially exposing this state’s elderly (not to mention the fact that this virus tears up young people as well) to illness and death. If that is not the definition of selfish, you will have to explain to me what the definition is.

If you can guarantee that you are not sick (which you can’t do because it takes up to 5 days for symptoms to appear) and that you have not already contacted COVID-19 on a gas pump or at the counter of whatever store you find open, you are displaying the kind of selfishness that Wyomingites say is not part of their culture. You might want to think about that before rebelling against common-sense measures designed not to protect just you, but to protect others as well.

Here’s another way to look at it. Wyomingites love their guns, and they have a Second Amendment right to own and carry them. But what resident of this great state would walk into a crowded restaurant and wave that gun around and perhaps have it go off and kill someone? Only the most irresponsible, of course. Yet you would exercise your right to travel and spread an illness that can kill others? Please explain how that is not both selfish and irresponsible.

I’m sorry if this offends you or hurts your sensibilities. But it is time to take your mind off the restrictions of your rights and turn to protecting your friends, neighbors and families. Anything less is simply unacceptable in the great state of Wyoming.

D. Reed Eckhardt is the former executive editor of the Wyoming Tribune Eagle.