Yes, it's official! The recurring sword of Damocles hanging over Dane County has dropped yet again. Today, Director of Public Health Janel Heinrich extended her emergency order and mask "mandate," this time until March 1st.
Raise your hand if you were surprised.
Can we just all be real for minute...?
The mammoth spike of cases in Dane County that went totally nuts around New Year's Eve...the one that' s now declining? Weren't we under an emergency order and mask mandate when it started...like, consistently since AUGUST 2021?
And yet, oddly, that massive spike still happened.
So, if we're now in the middle of this CRAAAAZZZZZY SPIKE that DWARFS EVERYTHING else we've seen in the previous two years...and the county has been ALL MASKED UP THE WHOLE TIME, how shall we all now continue to believe that the masks work against COVID?
Looks like virus just gonna virus...mask or no mask.
Just like it's been doing for the last two years. And like it's going to continue to do as it blows right by a multitude of improperly fitted N95s that PHMDC is currently distributing,
Also, if the county's multiple hospitals and ICU units aren't currently burning down--and I know they're not because I'm watching that data daily--then how shall we believe that the spike is really all that dangerous to us, anyway? What do most of us need to be protected from...? And who are we actually protecting at this point...? Just about nothing and just about no one, it appears.
So, if Janel Heinrich wishes to sit in the dark and keep pretending that masks will prevent a darned thing, that's her individual prerogative. I, for one, refuse to sit in the dark with her. Reality now clearly demonstrates that her approach has been an utter failure.
That Janel seems so determined to cling to fear and falsehood--and to have the rest of us hang out in that mental space with her--makes her either a pathetic figure worthy of pity or a manipulator worthy of our watchful eye. Pick one. But credible leader worthy of trust is simply no longer an option.
Loving our neighbor is at the root of everything Dane Undivided does. Janel Heinrich insists that the mask is "loving." But I ask you on behalf of the entire Dane Undivided team: Can a mask that's destroying the fabric of our county honestly be described as good or loving?
A mask that's dividing us?
A mask that's causing us all to fear and loathe one another?
A mask that's resulting in physical, psychological, and spiritual harm?
Especially a mask that now, undeniably, has little or no discernible health benefit to show for all the damage it's wrought?
We want to acknowledge that Janel is our neighbor, too. But she needs to tear herself out of the moldy basement of fear and spend some time in the healing light of courage. Until she does so, Dane Undivided will stand with the vulnerable in this county who have been harmed by Janel's relentless one-size-fits-all approach. And we will carry on speaking inconvenient truth to power.
We will also continue to exhort this county to stand.
Isn't it well past time to reject the fear that Janel insists we continue to embrace? Lines must be drawn. In the first place, the word mandate is being grossly misapplied. A mandate requires the consent of the party or parties being asked to do something. If we're consenting to a lie--and we now know beyond a shadow of a doubt that that's what it is--we're fools and cowards, and we deserve to be ruled.
In the second place, this order does not possess the force of law. But Janel sure wants us to believe it does. That's another lie we shouldn't give her a pass on for even a moment longer.
Bottom line: This ends when WE decide it does. Going along to get along won't work. Janel needs to see a whole lot of us standing in courage and laughing at the fear she's dishing out.
Perfect love casts out fear...It doesn't invite it in to stay.
FREE YOUR FACE.
LIONS...NOT SHEEP.
Tell your friends.
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