COVID-19 threatens global setback in fight against AIDS
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a devastating impact across the globe, with millions of lives and livelihoods lost, unlike anything we have experienced in decades. The last time the entire world was this focused on a pandemic threat was over two decades ago when HIV/AIDS was killing thousands of people daily.
Having spent most of my life in Nigeria, I care personally about this because I have witnessed the horrendous impact of this disease on families and communities.
The global response to AIDS has largely become a global success story, but the COVID-19 pandemic threatens to set back this progress. First, it’s important to remember HIV/AIDS is still a crisis. Even worse, people living with HIV/AIDS are at more-severe risk of COVID-19 and live in parts of the world with limited access to COVID-19 vaccines.
We have the power to beat both viruses. That’s why it’s so important that Sen. Raphael Warnock and Sen. Jon Ossoff show support for programs helping fight against COVID and AIDS.
KENNY KAMSON, ACWORTH
Absentee ballot designed to confuse voters
Is anyone surprised at the number of rejected absentee ballots from the November 2021 election? See “New law leads to rejected ballots,” (News, Nov. 27). My wife and I voted absentee in Cobb County, and the very first piece of information requested on the ballot (top right) was for my “ID Number.” Well, exactly what number is this? I assumed that my voter ID number was requested, but the application should have added that one simple word to avoid ambiguity. So I called Cobb County Elections to verify. I’m just curious, why wasn’t this simple word added to the ballot in the first place? One can certainly assume, based upon the absurd accusations about the 2020 elections, that this was done intentionally to confuse voters.
WILLIAM RAMSEY, MARIETTA
