Letter to the Editor: The horse is already out of the barn
For those begging for government interference in your life (Harvey comes to mind). The county has decided that mask mandates are necessary. When you go into a store and try to communicate with a clerk behind the plexiglass do you ever wonder why the plexiglass is there? It is because masks do not work. But that is not my point.
The mask mandate is simply shutting the barn door after the horse is already out. Where was the Public Health Officer when the East Zone of the Dixie fire decided to set up camp in Quincy? One can not possibly overlook the fact that over the last 6 weeks more than 10,000 fire fighting personnel have come thru that camp and many, you have all seen them, have been in our stores and restaurants unmasked. Many of them are from SoCal the hot bed of covid-19 infections. Many of them are from out of state. They will carry the virus back home with them. The mother of super spreader events. During their daily briefings they are required to maintain “social distancing” and wear mask but not in our stores or restaurants. When the North Complex was burning last year the Spanish campground was used to isolate suspected covid cases. Is that happening now? Quincy fairgrounds is convenient but I have been in several camps on the Plumas where the camp was out in a field. That would have help a little in isolating the carriers. Obviously not all fire personnel are carriers for those readers that would suggest I am implying that.
No it is not the locals that spread the virus but we will be left with a mandate to wear a mask. Side note, when I was growing up I was taught to carry a handkerchief and when I needed to sneeze or cough I was to pull that handkerchief out and cover my nose and mouth. Today kids are taught to sneeze into their elbow. What? Ya and wear it around on their sleeve for the rest of the day. Yep that is real progress.
Phil Shafer
Quincy