Donald Trump and I are not close. When it comes to public policy, we disagree on just about everything. But I am going to go out on a limb here and ask him for a Christmas present.
Counties that went heavily for Trump in the last election have seen much lower COVID vaccination rates and much higher death rates than counties that went heavily for Joe Biden.
Now Dr. Dora Anne Mills states in Colin Woodard’s excellent front-page article in the Dec. 19 Telegram that Maine’s alarming COVID statistics are “really the story of the two Maines.” Cumberland County’s rate of fully vaccinated residents is 81 percent, whereas in Franklin County, it is around 60 percent. Dr. Mills observes that mask wearing is close to universal at the grocery store in Portland and close to zero at the grocery store in her hometown of Farmington.
My request is simple. All I want for Christmas is for the vaccinated Donald Trump to ask his many unvaccinated supporters to get vaccinated and wear a mask in indoor public settings.
It might have a huge impact, and it would be in his own best interest. He is losing voters to COVID. One percent of Americans above 65 have died from this illness. In Arizona, where 24 percent of people who voted in the last election were in that demographic, Trump lost to Biden by 0.3 percent.
So come on, Donald. Do the right thing for a change. Maybe it will make for a happier New Year for all of us.
Kevin Carley
Portland
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