— from Penny Buttke —
I agree with Cindy Wolf. The decision to move from Phase 2 to Phase 3 should be made by Dr. James, not left in the hands of the Council.
How the virus is managed is a life and death decision, especially for those of us older residents. But, there are many long-term side effects that are slowly being brought to our attention that can affect all ages.
We have worked together as a community to wear masks, wash our hands before grocery shopping and distance when outside. We’ve had remarkably low virus numbers following Dr.James’’ leadership. He should be the decider.
“Let science rule the decision-making” is a great political soundbite. All scientists are familiar with the difficulty of drawing unambiguous conclusions from data. The data seldom speak with one voice, Only politicians or those with an axe to grind pretend otherwise. Respectfully submitted.
Penny,
You are totally right on. This pandemic is truly unfortunate in so many ways, but trying to balance health and the possibility of death with other interests seems like a fool’s errand. Let’s have health and safety be the bottom line.
Since the law requires that the council makes these decisions for the county, abdicating responsibility to Dr James is simply not an option.
But considering that the council has followed Dr. James suggestions at each step, I’d say this is not an issue, as his is the advice that is already being followed.
At this point there is very little ambiguity regarding the manner in which the pandemic should be addressed. The science is clear. Social distancing (including limiting non-essential travel), wearing masks when appropriate, the three “Ts”, etc are all beyond doubt critical interventions — the preponderance of data, research and experience demonstrate that. These are not some sort of wishy-washy conclusions where some might justifiably latch on to the tiny chance that they are wrong. Only a partisan would do so.
There is a “way” to deal with this pandemic. The question is, does the County have the will to do so. The County Council should and must defer to the reasoned, science based decisions of the County’s Health Officer. And it must be willing to use the tools it has, blunt though they may be, to protect the citizens in our County. Age no longer seems to be a deciding factor in who falls ill, only perhaps in how ill and for how long.
There are many decisions that require the advice of, and the decision to apply to move from one Phase to another has to have a majority approval by the BOH, as well as the county council… this is a shared responsibility.
The council has not always followed Dr. James advise. Last week’s meeting on whether to pull the, then pending, Phase 3 application, and the is ample proof of that. In listening to the meetings one can see that these decisions have often been contentious, and there has at times been a split vote… with Dr. James erring on the side of health, and the county council erring on the side of economy.
The county council has little choice but to follow Dr. James, and the BOH’s recommendations… if they ever want to re-open.
Here’s some science for you Paula–
Frank James
July 14 at 7:44 AM ·
It is time some people learned to do math.
For every one person who dies:
19 more require hospitalization.
18 of those will have permanent heart damage for the rest of their lives.
10 will have permanent lung damage.
3 will have strokes.
2 will have neurological damage that leads to chronic weakness and loss of coordination.
2 will have neurological damage that leads to loss of cognitive function.
So now all of a sudden, that “but it’s only 1% fatal!” becomes:
3,282,000 people dead.
62,358,000 hospitalized.
59,076,000 people with permanent heart damage.
32,820,000 people with permanent lung damage.
9,846,000 people with strokes.
6,564,000 people with muscle weakness.
6,564,000 people with loss of cognitive function.