31 August 2020 — 1030 mdt

Preparing for the Long Haul

Straight talk on the SARS Cov-2 virus

By Kyle Waterman

I have written before about how I believe that wearing masks is a sound public health policy designed for how we can keep Montana open and protect the continuum of public and private business. I still believe this to be true, we need to work on public education and make mask wearing ubiquitous. Unfortunately, the County Fair went forward with relaxed enforcement of the mask requirement and we will see the negative impact in as soon as a few weeks, but lasting through the end of the year.

The first and a significant impact is the erosion of public trust in the health recommendation and lack of understanding that mask wearing is a way to avoid a future stay at home order. I find it personally frustrating that many fair attendees are willing to don a mask to go into Costco but not willing to wear one in the grandstands. I have personally attended an in-person meeting with one of the anti-mask organizers, and they wore a mask, but they aren’t willing to share that with their supporters. Misunderstanding of masks and the reality of the health crisis going to will only serve to prolong the event.

It feels to me that these civic leaders are like a captain of a boat selling tickets to take a voyage knowing that the boat is unseaworthy. A mask allows an asymptomatic person to be around others when social distancing efforts are maintained. Symptoms of Covid-19 aren’t always apparent, so everyone wearing a mask is an effective way for us to keep the community open when there is the potential of infected individuals also being out among us. Removing these prevention measures will lead to a spike of cases which will put all of our vital community services at risk.

Let’s be clear, the measures being employed to fight this health event are the same that would be used to fight the common cold. Washing hands, staying home and isolating when sick are effective ways to fight the flu. We actually saw early end of the flu season in April, when the stay at home order was in effect, since isolation is a way to fight all communicable diseases. Covid is not the common cold, it is more persistent, but the same measures will work on this novel virus.

So now we are in for the long event. Truth is, we always were. We are still learning about the Covid, discovering treatment options and working towards a vaccine. We needed to get on top of the event, flatten the curve and prepare for the long-term management. The quickest vaccine that has been developed was done in 12 months and that was for the Ebola. Those were different times but developing, testing and distributing a vaccine for a global event is going to be a year — or more.

This summer weather has been nice and Montanans have been able to enjoy being outside while keeping with social distancing measures. Now we need become vigilant and prepare to battle community spread this winter when we are more confined indoors. This preparation is essential and requires us to as a community to make sure we have plans to prevent transmission, isolate infected individuals, support at risk community members and make sure our essential services continue to operate. We need to prepare for how we get through the next year by working together to keep everyone safe!

♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

Kyle Waterman is a member of Kalispell’s city council and the Democratic candidate for the Montana Legislature in Senate District 2 (Columbia Falls). You can reach him at kyle4flathead@gmail.com.