Recently, a co-worker, who just a few days prior had tested positive for the Corona Virus asked me if I was concerned about his positive test. I told him that I was more concerned about forgetting to wear my belt to work that day. Pulled my pants out of the dryer that morning freshly laundered and they fit so well that I had overlooked putting my belt on before heading out the door.
Anyone with a good used pair of Wranglers can most certainly relate.
The whole business of our County Health Departments across the state pre-emptively calling for and/or maintaining mask mandates on their own without any accountability and outside of any new future recommended policies regarding such at the state level is a bit of a stretch.
County Health Department recommendations on various infectious diseases is all fine and well, but since when is it the place of that same County Health Department to “mandate” that the general public do anything?
Analogy
Wearing a mask might protect me from illness, just like wearing a coat might keep me warm.
My wearing a coat won’t keep everybody warm just like my wearing a mask won’t keep others from becoming ill — (I’m not ill in the first place, so at least there’s that).
The only person the mask protects is the person that’s wearing it.
But yet, here we have the County Health Department, in essence, saying that you have to put your coat on so others can stay warm. Never has there been such a level of absurdity, as the argument that says putting your coat on will keep others warm. Our local health directors are pretty good at doing a lot of things, but they fail at any semblance of making a convincing argument when it comes to coercing the masses.
Virtue signaling is about as nonsensical as it gets, and shame on our health departments for falling for it.
You aren’t protecting 10 people when you wear a mask — you’re protecting you, and only you, and your protection is contingent on if and when you come into contact with a sick person who’s too stupid to stay home.
The only way you can protect 10 people is to stay home when you’re sick. Wearing a mask in public when you’re sick does “nothing” — the germs are on your hands and on your clothes and even on your cash or debit/credit card. If you’re sick, you will absolutely infect others regardless of whether you wear a mask or not.
Greg Gianforte to be sworn in Jan 4
Gianforte, currently a representative for Montana’s at-large House district, won 54% of the vote in the November election, and he won with the largest margin for a non-incumbent governor since 1920, according to KULR8. According to state data, Gianforte received more votes than any candidate for governor in Montana history.
Republicans gained control of every statewide office after the November election and hold majorities in the Montana House of Representatives and Senate.
Gianforte will face the immediate challenge of tackling Montana’s COVID-19 response. He has signaled a willingness to reverse outgoing Governor Bullock’s mask mandate, but in an interview, said he would be wearing a mask to set an example for Montanans.
“I trust Montanans with their health and the health of their loved ones,” Gianforte told KHN. “The state has a role in clearly communicating the risks of who is most vulnerable, what the potential consequences are, but then I do trust Montanans to make the right decisions for themselves and their family.”