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In a Pivotal Position

The Guilford Board of Education election will have a critical impact on the health and safety of all of our citizens. Who is vulnerable to COVID-19? The remarkably fit 90-year-old great grandmother who lives next door, the school bus driver with diabetes who greets you with a smile twice a day, the older teacher who taught you and now teaches your kids, and the child living through cancer treatment are at high risk of dying in this pandemic.

As medical director of the Yale Shoreline Emergency Department in Guilford, I spend my days caring for the victims of COVID-19. I have treated beloved bus drivers, teachers, grandparents, and community members. I have watched them struggle to breathe and fear what lies ahead: admission to the hospital, a ventilator, and worse. Healthy children, for the most part, do well with COVID-19 infections. They can do so well that they unknowingly spread highly infectious variants to others who are more vulnerable. Tragically, many bus drivers, teachers, and others around the country have become infected by students and died.

The importance of limiting the spread of the virus among and through our children puts the Board of Education in a pivotal position to promote our public health and protect our vulnerable citizens. We must elect Board of Education candidates who are thoughtful, educated, community-minded, and willing to take a science-based approach to giving our kids a healthy school experience. On Nov. 2, I encourage your readers to join me in the effort to keep our community safe, mask up, and come vote for five responsible candidates for the Board of Education, rows A and C.

Harry Moscovitz

Guilford