19 October 2020 — 0816 mdt

One of the key authors of the Western concept of freedom is John Stuart Mill. In “On Liberty,” he wrote that liberty (or freedom) means “doing as we like, subject to such consequences as may follow, without impediment from our fellow creatures, as long as what we do does not harm them even though they should think our conduct foolish, perverse or wrong.”

Note the clause “as long as what we do does not harm them.” He tossed that in there almost as a given — indeed, it is a given. This is a standard definition of freedom, more colloquially expressed in the adage “Your freedom to do as you please with your fist ends where my jaw begins.”

Now, conservatives revere Mill. But today, in the age of the pandemic, Mill and other conservative heroes like John Locke would be aghast at the way the American right wing bandies about the word “freedom.”

The second attachment is the CDC study report from July of this year regarding analysis of infection rates in masked vs. unmasked individuals. In summary, if you see page 1261, “never worn” had a total of 3.9% vs “always” having a total of 70.6%. It does not take a rocket scientist to see the statistical significance of this. A child could figure it out. I would submit that the vast majority of the current increase in numbers you are reporting in Flathead County are related to mask-wearing individuals being tested. If this doesn’t convince you to stop the mask and other restrictions and actually allow TRUE herd immunity to take place, I’m not sure what will!

One of the co-authors of the study, Christopher Lindsell, co-director of the Health Data Science Center at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, told CNN that the president misrepresented the data.

“The data suggest that among a group of patients who are already showing symptoms that prompted them to get testing for the virus, there was no statistical evidence of a difference in mask wearing behavior between those who tested positive and those who tested negative,” Lindsell said in an email. “This is very different from the question of whether wearing masks prevents you becoming infected with the virus, and it is also different to the question of how many or what percentage of people who wear masks contract the virus. The study was not designed to answer these questions.”

If half of the country were to wear masks, for example, and 85% of those people were diagnosed with COVID-19, as Trump claimed, that would mean there were more than 120 million cases. In actuality, there have been about 8 million diagnoses in the United States, according to the Johns Hopkins University coronavirus tracker.

Dear Health Board Members, We insist that you Vote NO on Item’s 6 and 7: Reducing the Spread & Health Officer Order The citizens of Flathead county are all done with the government over reach . Our Liberty is more important to us than the security these Orwellian directives are promising. We have crippled our economy near the point of no return We have stopped the herd immunity to get us out of this Virus and therefore slowed down dramatically the recovery rate.

The Death rate does not justify such sacrifice of Liberty. Masks have proven to be ineffective and even could cause physical, emotional and mental health harm. Vote NO.

That fat lady has sung, the curtain has fallen and the audience has gone home. IT IS OVER. Sincerely …

To whom this may concern,

This message is in response to your discussion on the basis of limiting church attendance in a free country. You will not limit the reach of God. You will not forcibly suffer free men. You will not disavow the constitution and its nominated powers of the people. Those powers discharged unto you, for the purpose of peace and justice; declared by the people of the United States, will not be forgone. The lockdowns have proven to cause more destruction through suicide, depression, loss of income and resorting to drugs from lack of human connection. Let it be known, THE PEOPLE WILL NOT COMPLY. Endowed from our creator with inalienable rights, we will worship our Lord and Savior without restriction. You wish to mask us, seperate us, create division, and instill defeat in the congregation of places of worship; before you start within the communist manifesto’s being propagated in the streets during riots. Take a look at the demons you are creating and stop them before they consume you as well. Stop threatening God’s houses, this is the 1st Amendment for a reason. The people will freely worship.

Citations: - 1st Amendment
- “enumerated powers” in Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution -
The Bible -
https://www.redstate.com/michael_thau/2020/07/27/head-of-cdc-lockdown-suicides-drug-ods-killingway- more-americans-than-covid/

Dear Members of the Flathead County-City Board of Health,

I’m writing in support of the proposed restrictions to help slow the surge of COVID-19 cases in the Flathead Valley and also to express my concerns as a resident and a small business owner if restrictions are not adopted by this board.

As the owner of Kalispell Brewing Company, we have adhered to the restrictions and health safety guidelines since the pandemic hit the Flathead Valley. As a small business, we weathered the closure of our taproom and invested in PPE and safety equipment such as plexiglass dividers to keep our staff and customers safe. Our employees wear masks and have been doing so for months. Additionally, we eliminated many of our live music and events that normally draw a sizable crowd knowing that large gatherings increase the risk for the virus to spread. We even decided to cancel our largest event, Oktoberfest, which is held outdoors in our parking lot, in September in response to doing our part to reduce the spread. None of these decisions came lightly and they certainly impact our economic success and viability. However, despite the risk of losing income we felt that it is our responsibility to mitigate risk and slow the spread.

I ask that as you adopt more stringent measures to ease the strain of this virus on our community, enforcement of these steps must be taken. Or, perhaps, if that is not an option, please consider incentivizing businesses like mine who have and will continue to follow the directives from local, state, and federal levels in the fight against the coronavirus. It is upsetting to witness other businesses who aren’t following the rules, who don’t take this virus seriously, and who don’t put community health as a top priority.

If no action is taken soon in this area, I worry about the health and safety of my employees and customers. I employ 14 people on Main Street, and will do everything in my power to keep those 14 employed but it takes strong leadership and direction from the Flathead County to ensure our small businesses can continue to operate, even with restrictions, during a pandemic.

A clear and united mission for living with the coronavirus is needed, and is long overdue. Instead, the division and divisiness from members on this very board and the County Commissioners are causing great harm. Our entire community is in jeopardy --from a strained health care system to students’ compromised education to sick or quarantined employees --and it is critical that this health board acts now and has the support of the County Commissioners.

I’ve witnessed many impressive actions by members of the community who take this threat seriously and who don’t fall prey to conspiracy theories or bogus science. For example, as the president of the Glacier Jewish Community, we altered our in-person gatherings in response to the threat of the virus. During our most holy and sacred season, the High Holy Days, we determined that the most responsible action for our worship services was to host them online. We chose to host two in person gatherings--drive in services--where members remained in their cars. I’m sharing these examples to demonstrate how individuals and organizations are rising to meet the challenge of COVID-19 while keeping members and the larger community safe.

Now it is time for this health board to issue enforceable mandates and restrictions that demonstrate community concern and civic mindedness. We need a unifying voice.

Lastly, I want to give credit and appreciation to the Flathead Community Health Department for their tireless work during the pandemic.

Thank you for reviewing my comments.

Dear Members of the Flathead County Health Board,

On behalf of my parish community of St. Herman’s Orthodox Church here in Kalispell, I would like to express our thanks for your work within the community. May God guide and strengthen you in these trying times.

Having first read the local media reports and now the text of the proposal submitted to you by the Health Department for increased restrictions on the public due to COVID-19, we would like to express our strongest objections to this new order and ask you not to implement it for the following reasons:

1. It is an unequal application of the law, and anti-religious. 2. It deals only with COVID, and not the whole range of health issues that are currently affecting people in our community. 3. It utilizes a questionable model of responding to the virus. Firstly, the forced reduction of many business and houses of worship to 25% capacity, while leaving schools, their activities and sports events, untouched is an unfair and unequal application of the law. Whether intended or not, it smacks of anti-religious bias and demonstrates a lopsided commitment to one aspect of our community while denigrating other essential elements. Not only is this bad governance, the proposal also represents a completely compromised approach as its application is not universal and will therefore not be effective.

Secondly, this proposal is problematic as it considers only one set of data – COVID-19 infection rates – while ignoring everything else. For example, ministers of every kind within this community have noticed a serious increase in mental health crises, anxiety-related issues, suicidal ideations, and a general deterioration of overall personal health within our communities as a direct result of the lockdown policies and restrictions. Health cannot simply be measured by whether or not we have avoided getting a virus. Many people’s lives have been devastated in the last several months by a variety of factors and to tell them that they cannot have free access to their support systems nor seek solace in their worship and faith community is completely wrong-headed, ignorant of humanity, and will have seriously negative effects in the long term.

Finally, these restrictions represent a model of responding to COVID–19 that is being questioned by countless professionals within the field. Scientists, doctors, epidemiologists and health professionals across the spectrum are now admitting that lockdowns do not seem to accomplish any definite good in the short-term or in the long-run. A good example of this new line of thinking can be found in the Great Barrington Declaration, signed by dozens of internationally respected scientists and physicians from both sides of the political spectrum, some people of faith and some not. The point is, there are serious questions about the efficacy of widespread lockdowns. But while we don’t really know if lockdowns actually work or not to slow the spread of COVID-19, we do know for a fact the lockdowns hurt people and do serious damage to the people and businesses of our community.

Though we understand that we didn’t know any better at the time and needed to act to avoid a true COVID-19 disaster, many people within our valley and county are still reeling from the horrible effects of this spring’s lock-down. Yes, we do care about people and we do not want to see anyone else suffer or die from COVID-19. What we are asking is that the health board remember that there are countless other serious and even life threatening maladies which are at work in our community and to isolate one of them – COVID-19 – and to attempt to control a virus which we barely understand to the detriment of countless people within our community would be both inhumane and bad governance.

Please do not institute this lop-sided, biased and unhelpful health order!