Communities can control COVID-19

To the Editor: "China's economy is almost over COVID-19," according to the Wall Street Journal on Oct 19. My friends in Shanghai told me last week that masks are only required on public transportation. Their elementary school children do not need to wear masks. Eating at restaurants is back to normal.

China, Australia, South Korea and neighboring countries maintained their lockdown until the quarantines and contact tracing could control the few remaining COVID cases. President Trump allowed the U.S. to emerge from lockdown before we had reached such low levels.

The U.S. has had over 225,000 COVID deaths to date with 687 deaths per million population. Taiwan has had only seven COVID deaths to date, which is 0.3 deaths per million. Yet, everyone attending popular music concerts there wears a mask, in contrast to the many mask-less people at similar events in the U.S.

Where is our sense of community and dedication to the common good? For better or worse, we are all in this together.

Dr. Francs Collins, who leads the National Institute of Health, said, "We are Americans. We can do this together."