— by Minor Lile, Orcas Issues reporter –
The County Council and the San Juan County Board of Health will be meeting on Friday morning, May 22, at 9 a.m. The meeting agenda that has been released includes a review of the criteria for requesting a variance from the Governor’s staged economic recovery plan and consideration of a letter from County Health Officer Dr. Frank James requesting the variance. Notice of the special meeting was issued late Wednesday afternoon.
The Friday meeting will be the third time that the Board of Health and Council have met to consider a variance request. Since the most recent meeting last Friday, May 17, the Governor has issued additional guidelines and specified that San Juan County is one of ten additional counties that is now eligible to apply for a Phase 1 variance.
If the request for variance is approved by the Board of Health and the County Council, an application requesting a variance will then be completed and forwarded to the State. At the State level, variance applications are reviewed by the Secretary of Health, who can approve the plans as submitted, approve them with modifications, or deny the application.
A video stream of the meeting will be available through the County website. The Skype phone-in number for public access is 360-370-0599, meeting code #441250. Please remember to leave your phone muted both before and after offering public comment.
I sincerely hope they take into consideration ADA and HIPAA this time around. As both King & Whatcom counties have outlined: “Anyone with a disability that makes it hard for them to wear or remove a face covering. Anyone who is deaf and moves their face and mouth to communicate. Anyone who has been advised by a medical professional to not wear a face covering because of personal health issues. Anyone who has trouble breathing, is unconscious, or unable to remove the face covering without help.” There are so many health issues that this applies to and it IS against the law. This whole thing has put a dear friend of mine in tears due to concerns for the ability to feed herself, the looks she gets at the store from masked people, the snide comments of passersby. Please, council members and BoH, choose your words carefully & with compassion. Please consider the implications of even asking, let alone demanding, someone with health issues to wear face and mouth coverings.
Thank you Allen, for your comments. The current situation is hard on everyone, and I empathize with your friend. Although I have good hearing aids, watching people’s lips when they speak and standing close to them are added helps.
I can do neither when we are masked and indoors.
I feel that the reactions of others to your unmasked friend come mostly from fear and unknowing, and the need to protect themselves. Although difficult to do, your friend needs to understand that. We will never know all the nuances of this virus, and how to avoid it, so we go to the extreme in order to protect ourselves.
Should the County create an explanation badge for those in the same position as your friend?
Allen–I am trying to envision someone who has a compromised health status and cannot wear a mask going out in public for errands. Could you provide a few examples? Not only are they potentially exposing others, but even more important, they are at risk themselves. I note that most of our businesses have arranged “no contact” service options and the community has a group of volunteers who will run errands for anyone who cannot get out or wear a mask. These seem to me to be reasonable accommodations that would satisfy federal law.