Letters: Killion on Covid-19 and Its Threat for Unvaccinated Church and Choir Members

Dear Editor:

TV news routinely sensationalizes trivial risks from vaccination, further discouraging many from being vaccinated, without also reminding their viewers that by not getting vaccinated 1 out of 655 will probably die if infected.

 Example: Heart inflammation in vaccinated persons was the topic of several minutes of “Talking Heads” time on TV last week, even though it only occurs once in 250,000 vaccinated persons and is not fatal.

Fact:  About 1 in 655 unvaccinated people die from COVID-19 infection  (500,000 deaths out of 328 million people in the US, numbers before the recent increase in vaccinations)!

Fact:  The really important risk is that an unvaccinated person can pass it on and cause death to others.  In churches and choirs, the risk appears to be greatly increased by loud singing, as shown in laboratory measurements of the dramatic increase in aerosol disbursement that results.  Indeed, in a 125-member church known personally to me which preaches against vaccination, 30 became infected last month, including the pastor, and one died.  In 2020, the Saggit choir in Washington State reported 2 deaths among the 62 members who showed up for one rehearsal. One soprano had a “mild cold” that was actually COVID-19. — Mead Killion

Mead C. Killion, PhD, is the founder of Etymotic Research and is a long-time engineer in the hearing industry with degrees in audiology and mathematics, as well as an avid musician. He recently founded a new company, MCK Audio, which has developed the CM4 Companion Mics and HearHook earphones for improving communication in challenging listening environments, and he co-wrote the March 2021 Hearing Review article, “Critical Distance: How Far Can Musicians and Choir Members Be Spaced from Each Other?”

Editor’s note: Statistics on Covid-19 infections and death rates vary by age, demographics, and study periods, but one fact remains consistent over all current studies: Over 99% of people now dying from Covid-19 in the United States are unvaccinated, while fewer than 50% of the population is unvaccinated—dramatic evidence for the effectiveness of the vaccines.