Letter: Make policy not politics
During the deliberations of last week’s County Health Department meeting, several members of the board expressed concern that the Covid health crisis had become politicized. Then, they unanimously voted on a motion made by politician and board member Commissioner Gage Froerer to further entangle the health department’s decision with politics. The result of the vote was another meeting that was held on Monday August 30th where the politicians, the Weber County Commissioners, could give their full input on just how many kids in our schools had to get sick before the public wouldn’t punish them for voting yes on a mask mandate in our children’s schools. The acceptable number of sick children, before a known preventative measure can be put in place, is apparently 2%.
This is clearly not best practice for making public health decisions where lives literally hang in the balance. The health department should be making independent decisions based on sound science, data, and recommendations of the best healthcare experts in our community and then leave it in the hands of the politicians to vote on whether or not to uphold those recommendations. When it comes to public health, above all we need a department who will be bold enough to make independent recommendations to protect our citizens even if those recommendations will force a difficult vote for the politicians. Weber/Morgan Health Department you can do better.
Kevin Lundell
Ogden