HomeMy WebLinkAboutPublic Comment Mask - 11/18/2020 9:40:33 AM
Deborah Lovejoy
From:Jayme Schwendiman <jaymeschwendiman@gmail.com>
Sent:Wednesday, November 18, 2020 9:15 AM
To:Jordan Busby; Brad Wolfe; Mikel Walker; Tisha Flora; Bryanna Johnson; Mayor;
Customer Services
Subject:Don’t enact a mask mandate, it’s not going to drop the cases.
To whom it may concern,
Hello, I am writing you to voice my opinion on the mask mandate you are
proposing. I am begging you to please not enact this mask mandate. I am
strongly against this mask mandate for more reasons than simply mask wearing.
1st I think it is wrong of you to try and threaten businesses into being your mask
police at the expense of them being able to keep their business license. If you do
this, what will be next, making businesses enforce if people wore a seatbelt and
stopped at all the stop signs on the way to their establishment? Making all
restaurants who serve alcoholic beverages give their patrons breathalyzer tests
before they can leave to ensure that they aren’t over the legal limit? I mean it
might save a life right.
2nd I think it is wrong to put the police and sheriff departments in the position
that you are due to enforcement reasons for your mandate. With all the turmoil
surrounding the police right now why would you give our community a reason to
resent our police officers and sheriff deputy’s? I’ve personally talked with
multiple officers of RPD. They have shared experiences with me and shared their
feelings about how they personally feel and have been treated during this time of
turmoil and hate against police. This mask mandate will not do anything to better
the relationships with our local departments, it’s only going to hurt them.
3rd Going out to restaurants or going shopping is not how the majority of these
people are getting covid-19. I personally care for people on a regular basis who
are wanting to be treated for covid-19. I’ve asked many of these people I’ve
cared for if they knew where they got sick from. The large majority of the people
I have cared for all know where they got it from. It wasn’t from going shopping,
it wasn’t from going to a restaurant. The majority of them have said things along
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the line of, I went to Utah to visit family, my (insert family member) just had a
tiny sore throat but didn’t seem that sick so we stayed. Or other have been to
events such as weddings where they talk to someone who had some sniffles but
didn’t seem “that sick.” Educate people about personal responsibility of if they
are sick staying home. If they go to visit a friend and their friend has symptoms
encourage them to not visit at that time even if they “aren’t that sick”.
4th I think it is wrong and doing a disservice to our community to encourage
people to be ratting out their neighbor or fellow businesses. Rexburg has been
called America’s family community. It didn’t get called that because it’s people
were known for snitching and ratting each other out.
5th the people who choose to not where masks while out in public aren’t your
problem. Have you honestly watched people while you have been out and about?
I have. The people not wearing a mask at the store/restaurants are practicing
social distancing, being more diligent about not touching their faces, and seem to
be the ones I see who aren’t going out with sickness symptoms. I’ve seen mask
wearing people throwing social distancing out the window more frequently than
those who aren’t wearing a mask because masks provide a false sense of security
for a large portion of the people who wear them. Also mask wearers constantly
are touching their faces more often to readjust their masks. (This would then I
turn give you a higher likely hood of getting covid-19 from a source that’s not
close contact). I’ve also noticed that a good portion of the people who I see
coughing, sneezing, or who sound horse at the store are those who are wearing
masks. Even though they have their mask on they simply shouldn’t be out and
about, but they think it’s ok because “their wearing their mask”, it’s another false
sense of security due to mask wearing.
6th Another reason I strongly oppose this mask mandate is that healthy people
with no symptoms aren’t to be feared or treated like they might have the plague.
People who have no symptoms don’t just have a fog cloud of covid-19 that seeps
out of them. When have we even been afraid of people who are healthy and not
symptomatic? Never! This respiratory virus doesn’t act any different than the rest
of them, it is spread by people who are symptomatic. If you look into the PCR
testing you will also find that these supposed “asymptomatic” cases generally are
from people who’s test has a high cycle threshold value which then means they
either don’t have active virus in them it was just viral artifact that flagged the test
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positive or they have such a little amount of active virus it’s not enough to infect
others.
7th another reason I’m against this mask mandate is that places that have had
strict mask mandates in place, stricter than this mask mandate your considering
enacting are also experiencing increased case numbers too, despite having their
strict mandates in place. Look at Seattle Washington, or Michigan, or even
California. All of those areas have strict mask mandates in place already and due
to it becoming cold, and also due to people having holiday events, parties, and
still choosing to live life and interact in person with one another all areas are
having increased case numbers. The mask mandates do not stop this from
spreading.
The only way a mask mandate is going to stop this virus from spreading is if your
going house to house multiple times a day ensuring that anyone from outside that
household who is at another household has their mask on, and also going around
and kicking people out of their friends house who’s friend “isn’t very sick”. But
honestly does it really matter to the city of Rexburg if their mask mandate makes
sense in regards to if covid-19 cases will drop? No I’m beginning to not think
they really don’t care if it does. The people could still be wearing masks at all
these businesses and restaurants, but care numbers will still go up and it will
always be because they didn’t wear their mask good enough.
People are still going to socialize, people are still going to visit their families and
friends for the holidays. The cases are still going to increase if this mandate is put
in place. It’s appearing to me that the city is just wanting to make a mask
mandate so it makes it “APPEAR” as though they did something to lower the
cases. The city is not responsible for the increased number of covid-19 cases.
Individual choice of being around people who “aren’t that sick, even though they
have symptoms” is the cause.
If the city really feels they need to do something to encourage mask wearing or
do something to try and decrease covid-19 cases why don’t we try and protect
our most vulnerable populations, such as those who are in the nursing homes.
Helping to make sure they have the needed resources to keep their residents safe.
Encouraging those who live at home to check whether their guests have
symptoms and even if their “not that sick” to tell them to come visit later.
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Rexburg needs to take care of its businesses big and small, especially the small
ones. Turning businesses into the cities mask police isn’t going to keep our small
businesses thriving in our community.
There is more to life than just covid-19. People are getting sick/dying from more
than just covid-19. We need to stop having a myopic view when it comes to
covid-19. Other areas of our community are being greatly effected from the
results of this focused view. We need to look at the larger picture and consider
the other things being effected, they are still important.
Please do not enact this mask mandate. It doesn’t help our community. It just
makes the city “feel/appear like they did something.”
Sincerely,
A concerned citizen, who cares for those with covid-19 and see the other ways
the community is suffering.
Sent from my iPhone
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