ACHTUNG: This is not a “fair and balanced” article. It is an editorial by the editor.
State Rep. Mary Whiteford, who represents all of Allegan County except the City of Wayland and Dorr, Leighton and Wayland townships, is dead wrong in her perception of what needs to be done about Covid-19 in terms of legislative policy.
Her recent newsletter said she and her Republican colleagues in the Michigan House came up with a plan that she maintains gives “the people of Michigan more certainty and control in these challenging times – allowing for data-driven COVID-19 responses that reflect conditions in local communities.
“The plan relies on science-based, county-level data to guide decisions to keep people healthy and determine appropriate safety measures.
“By working in partnership with qualified members of our state’s medical community to shape the best COVID-19 responses for Michigan, this plan will prevent local communities from being forced to conform to the same default cookie-cutter response as all other communities across the state.
“I support this plan because it aligns with the professional advice we’ve heard from local health experts about the importance of local strategies to protect both lives and livelihoods of all Michigan residents. If this plan is implemented, the people of Michigan will no longer be left in the dark about the rationale behind unilateral executive orders imposed on them without their input.”
Horse hockey.
I support a “cookie cutter, one size fits all” approach rather than the disaster that has been America’s political response to the worst health crisis in a century.
President Donald Trump was right when he described the Coronavirus as an invisible enemy, and I’ve come to believe it should be fought collectively by everybody, like a war, in which we all do the same things together to win this war.
We surely cannot win such a conflict by all municipalities practicing different strategies, some none at all. United we stand, divided we fall.
No less than Trump’s favorite TV show, “Fox & Friends” this week included commentary about the different ways Kansas tackled the virus last summer. A mask mandate was applied to the entire state, but some counties opted out of the guidelines, much like Ms. Whiteford and Michigan GOP lawmakers favor in their plan.
The eventual result was the counties with lax regulations absorbed massive increases in numbers of cases and deaths. The counties that enforced masking up more strictly, meanwhile, enjoyed decreases in the same categories.
Time and time again, studies and data have proven masking up reduces risk of catching and dying of the Coronavirus. It’s not an absolute guarantee, but I can’t think of anything that is.
There should be no argument against the assertion that the United States has done the worst job on the planet of handling the pandemic, being No. 1 in cases and deaths. The reasons essentially are that we’ve had a haphazard, every man or woman for himself or herself attitude and too many of us have not heeded advice of science and medical experts.
It’s a savage indictment of what kind of society to which we have deteriorated, politically, socially and economically.
Ms. Whiteford, a nurse by trade, should know better. Instead she apparently opts for being a political toady for backwards Republican Party and Trumpian orthodoxy.
Perhaps the greatest irony is that the last sentence of her December newsletter opines: “We’ve all got to work together toward a common goal to get through this.”
You can’t do just that when everybody is permitted to do their own thing.
Everywhere I go in Allegan County at indoor retail businesses I see a fairly high level of mask compliance. If I had to guess, something between 90 and 95% of individuals wearing a mask.
Always a couple of people that choose not to wear one and take their chances. I don’t like it but am I supposed to believe that these few individuals are spreading all the covid? I guess I have a tough time with that.
Most people that catch it have no idea where they caught it. Many it seems where the suspected source is known, its a gathering of people congregated over a period of time. In someone’s home or another venue.
Seeing edicts issued by Govenment officials ordering people to wear masks outdoors at ALL times (Chicago area) or even banning going for walks (Los Angeles) are clear nonsense. I am not wearing a mask in my car, in my yard or on a trail walk at Yankee Springs…ever. I’m also not inviting groups of people over or attending anything. Nonetheless, we are individuals living in a supposedly free society where some risk is accepted. Risks for people over 60 are higher, use your head and act accordingly.
As for the numerous instances of leaders issuing mandates and then getting caught shirking those orders themselves, I won’t hold my breath for consequences. When have these elite ever had to face responsibility?
What we can do as a nation is remember where and how this pandemic started.
Instead of blaming our leaders for reflecting the fury and rage of constituents whose lives have been turned upside down or destroyed, maybe we can for once find the collective courage to hold the corrupt and irresponsible leaders of the nation responsible for damage to our nation and the world with pure negligence. In doing so we need to stop doing business with that nation…period. Let’s ask China Joe to explain his plan.
Your proclivity to always attack Republicans is laughable if the subject matter weren’t so serious. NOBODY knows a damn thing about this virus! People get it all the time even in areas where they mask up and socially distance. Nurses and doctors get it and we all know what extreme precautions they employ.
Get over your bias and report fairly.
I clearly stated that it is an editorial, which is biased, just like everything you write.
Shame on her. She knows better. She is more interested in trying to curry the favor of those who may not know better. As a nurse, Mary Whiteford must be better informed than her cynical stance suggests.
The many one sees in stores wearing a mask is only because they can’t go in without one. Otherwise many take no precautions such as clean hands and distancing. At our small Cafe many come in or try to with no mask and complain when told to. They try to sit next to some friend instead of the 6 foot apart seating. When wearing a mask many wear it wrong or use a thin bandana instead of a real mask.
But now the Cafe is closed as Covid more than likely caused the spread to those working there. Now they have serious health issues stemming from the virus. Even with the take out only people came unprotected straight from being tested positive to get the takeout food. Thankfully, the majority of the customers abide by the precautions, but the ones that do not hinder those who do.
As a registered Republican I agree with your editorial, she is wrong.
Yes I sign my actual name instead of hiding behind some fake id.
It’s hard not to laugh when someone says most are wearing a mask. Upon closer observation, you see the mask doesn’t cover the nose completely. Guess, they never learned in school that your nose is connected to your lungs.
Trying to invoke a universal approach to this virus definitely does infringe on an individuals freedom to continue a “I don’t give a damn about you” attitude. It requires everyone to cooperate and not deviate from the plan.
Remember the saying ” Give me liberty or give me death.”
Looks like a large percentage of the population remembers this from history. Hence, for the sake of liberty they are willing to spread death onto others.
So it is in the “land of the free”
I see a lot of references to people not wearing masks correctly, wearing the wrong kind of mask and not maintaining appropriate distance. I can’t agree more. I never said that all mask wearers did it “correctly”. So whats the solution? Have deputies ticketing 80 year olds at Home Depot with their nose hanging out? Really? Is that how we get people to “not deviate from the plan?” Good luck with that.
I wear an N95 mask, because I believe the vast majority of cloth and paper masks other than N95s are essentially useless. Yeah, sorry. I didn’t idiotically donate all of mine like Whitmer and Fauci wanted me to. Mine were actually left over from the ones I bought for the flu pandemic that the expert Joe Biden “fixed”.
Again, we live in a “free society” among human beings with their own judgement and actions. Further, none of us is an infectious disease “expert”. I wear my mask “correctly” and sanitize religiously but I am also not a busybody “mask cop”. I go to the store l, get my business done and get out. While there, I concentrate on not touching my mask, not others masks or how they wear them. I am healthy and not elderly. I have had 3 socially distanced visits with my elderly parents in 9 months. My overriding concern isn’t not catching covid, its not giving it to my parents or my diabetic brother in law etc. We stayed home for Thanksgiving and we will be home on Christmas. I dont like it and I don’t blame our leaders for it. I do pay a lot more attention to where what I buy is made now. I never thought I would make a distinction between a product made in Taiwan over one made in China.
Not surprisingly, nobody seems to support the concept of actually holding the Communist Chinese Govenment responsible for the death and destruction they are totally responsible for. If they did, they would have elected people who would do that. Instead, we voted for those who will get back as fast as possible to the business of selling us out to them and foolishly gutting our strategic industries. The communists are laughing at us bickering about noses out and mask quality. They should be, as a nation we are pathetic fools.
The pro business and “common sense” GOP are now public health and virus experts. If one wants to bother looking at facts rather than believing rhetoric coming from the MI GOP leadership then repeated by state representatives and state senators, they are promoting a dangerous populist path.
Look no further than COVID-19 data from every US state where the state government has blinked and passed public health to the county level. Those counties that opted out of or have very relaxed mask policies show higher levels of people who test positive for COVID-19, are hospitalized for complications caused by the virus and have higher death rates.
Look at South Dakota as an example of “common sense” and local control brings. There are a lot of similarities between many counties in that state and Allegan County. Low population density, lot s of small towns, lots of agriculture. The whole state population is around 900,000 and the COVID-19 deaths are at 1009 as of Sunday. 123 deaths from COVID-19 for every 100,000 people. How many people do you think would go to attend a college football game in Ann Arbor’s Michigan Stadium if you said 123 of you will die and won’t come home?
I personally know a dozen people who live in Kalamazoo and Kent Counties who drive to Allegan to work daily. There are 100’s like them. There are a lot of Allegan County residents who work in other counties, specifically Kent, Kalamazoo and Ottawa. How does the common sense county by county COVID-19 policies work in these cases? No mask policy in Allegan County for bars and restaurants gets 100’s of patrons from surround counties with stronger enforcement who go back home as super spreaders?
Simple solutions during a pandemic are never truly simple.
PS
Noticed political pro MacDougal has reappeared to support a GOP representative following the party line. Surprised he’s still around. Though he might have passed this veil of tears from a fatal cardiac event after taking hydroxychloroquinine he was touting when the first wave of what was then called coronavirus and very little was known about treatment. MacDougal was also leading the outrage charge because he claimed we couldn’t buy seeds when the ground was frozen and outdoor planting was 45-60 days away. (Back then MacDougal failed to mention the oppressed gardeners could buy their seeds from their local hardware stores along with the big box building supply stores that never closed and weren’t limited to what they could sell.)
MacDougal is on message with RNC Chair Ronna Romney McDaniel talking about China Joe. Why weren’t the RNC Chair and MacDougal asking President Trump why The Trump Organization has still has millions in Chinese banks? Why weren’t RNC Chair and MacDougal showing up at any of Trump 2020 MAGA rallies in MI demanding The Trump Organization sign away the dozens of Chinese patents its been granted since President Trump took office? Why is China important now but still isn’t to The Trump Organization? What’s changed other than President Trump failed to be re-elected?
I agree with the editorial, but would like to add a few notes. Mask-wearing is essential, but I’m dismayed by some of what passes for masks, as well as the places where nobody wears them. Before the most recent shutdown, I wasn’t eating in bars or restaurants, but I did walk into a bar to pick up a take-out dinner. What I saw inside was disturbing. Although a couple of tables had been removed, it was mostly business-as-usual in the bar. People wore masks just long enough to get in the door, then took off their masks and sat at long tables alongside 16 to 20 other people, all laughing and talking as they normally would in a bar. The waitresses wore a narrow clear plastic shield about two inches away from their mouths and only about three inches tall. It would have been useless in preventing any spread of infection. I picked up my dinner and got out of there ASAP. The next time I ordered a take-out dinner, I paid a little extra and had the waitress bring it out to my car.
The bars are closed for indoor dining now, but I went to the post office and saw the same thing: the postal clerk was wearing one of those same useless narrow face shields. Somebody in authority needs to step up and point out that those things are NOT masks.
I recently read that 3 out of 4 cases of COVID were contracted at home. But when you think about it, that makes sense: in a household of 4 people, one brings home COVID and they all get it. This only emphasizes the need for better protection from contagion in public places and work places.