By Diane Thomas-Rupert, Stevensville
In Ravalli County it appears there are a lot of people who believe it is OK to be a Covey Spreader. They engage in this behavior under the guise it is their 1st Amendment right. However, I don’t think that right stretches to include doing something to tramp on other people’s right to go safely out in the community. That, by the way, does not help employment or the economy in this county. If people do not go anywhere except the grocery store late at night and the post office they are not supporting the local economy. If you are unemployed due to COVID, thank a Covey Spreader.
So is there a compromise solution? Since it seems this whole mask or no mask debate has turned into a political statement, what if everyone wears a mask but those who wish to make a political statement write whatever you want on your mask? Make your statement. Exercise your 1st Amendment rights but in a way that we can all stay safer. Don’t force people to stay home so they don’t get hit with Covey rockets. Everyone’s 1st Amendment rights will have been respected; we will have fewer people getting sick and less deaths.
Hospitals are full and the health care workers are stretched to the brink. Please think about the rights of those health care workers and the people you may cause to die because you didn’t care that without a mask, you may be a Covey Spreader.
Roger Mitchell says
Ms. Rupert-Thomas,
Since it seems this whole mask or no mask debate has turned into a political statement, what if no one wears a mask but those want to? Or those who believe it keeps them safe? Or those who believe it keeps others safe. Exercise your 1st Amendment rights by hiding your face, but don’t try to force other people to cover theirs just because you think they should.
BTW, I don’t know anyone nor have heard of anyone who believes it is their First Amendment right to spread this or any other virus. The First Amendment has nothing to do with spreading diseases, but it does give us the right to speak freely and limits the power of government to stifle that speech. It also gives us the right to assemble with others and limits the power of government to squelch that assembly. Both of these First Amendment rights are being actively suppressed by our own government. This needs to change.
Mike Miller says
Yet, here you are, practicing the same 1st Amendment Right you’re complaining about others doing.
The irony.
Meanwhile, facts dictate that the covid19 virus size is .1 micron; almost no mask in the world is small enough to filter it out, and the the survival rate is at least 98.91+ %.