I was dismayed to read the letter you irresponsibly published recently, perhaps in some misguided attempt to “give a voice to both sides of the COVID debate.”

Here are some facts regarding the impact of COVID-19: Taiwan suffered 26 deaths per million for a total of 853 deaths. Canada suffered 980 deaths per million for a total of 37,261 deaths. The U.S.A. suffered 2,927 deaths per million for a total 965,000 deaths.

Of these countries, Taiwan has in recent years taken the strongest steps to fight against the spread of misinformation of all types.

In stark contrast, the U.S.A. is plagued with virulent weaponized misinformation, and you can directly see the effect those rampant conspiracy theories have had on the death rate from COVID.

We in Canada are increasingly victimized by conspiracy theorists who have undermined our society, and our collective response to a shared threat, and there is no doubt that our response to COVID was hampered by the purposeful spread of misinformation, increasing the death rate and the overall suffering of thousands.

Our governments are not the tyrants, the tyrants are those such as your letter writer, who refuse to take any responsibility at all for our shared well-being and put themselves first in their profound misunderstanding of what a social contract must be if we are all to survive such challenges as those posed by a rapidly transmissible disease.

Patrick Godfrey

North Saanich