In an interview with the paper, William Guerrette, candidate for state Senate, states regarding COVID safeguards, “If you measure the states with the highest restrictions … states that shut everything down and destroyed livelihoods are doing no better than states that didn’t do that at all.”

I looked at that measure and can say that Guerrette is totally wrong. I don’t know where he gets his info but I rely on the New York Times, which reports data from state and local public health agencies.

Here’s the latest data on COVID cases per 100,000 in population. States that did nothing: South Dakota, 12,713; North Dakota, 13,107; South Carolina, 10,060.

States that had restrictions: Maine, 3,330; Vermont, 2,449. Where would you rather live?

Even New York state, which was slammed with COVID cases early, did better than the Dakotas with 8,485 cases per 1,000. As far as deaths go, South Dakota is at 213 per 100,000; Maine is at 52.

I see no reason to vote for someone who is willfully uninformed about the most significant issue we face and is willing to spread misinformation. He wants to protect small business? Then he should support the mask mandate. People shop where they feel safe and where the owner shows some concern for their customers.

Barbara Coriell

Winthrop