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Everybody Must STAY Masked

until we reach "herd health" vaccination level

by Pam Green, © 2021

Until an extremely high percentage of the population has been fully vaccinated and new COVID case incidence drops to an extremely low level, we should all use masks and other precautions whenever we are in situations of potential transmission. That really means all indoor situations and those outdoor situations where keeping enough distance between people is not practical. You can't know for sure whether the other person has been vaccinated or not. So it makes sense to take precautions against that person transmitting this very serious disease to you. And if you have any kind of social conscience, you don't want others worried that you might infect them.

Now for those of us who are fully vaccinated, we can give ourselves the reward of maskless socializing in private with those friends and family members who we know are also vaccinated. We can actually hug our dear friends safely for both. That's number one reason most people give why they are getting vaccinated.

Here are some sample letters that you can modify to fit your own voice and your own state and local situation. You could also use one of these to your local School Board and to your child's school Principal. Likewise to the Chancellor or Dean of the college campus where you teach or attend or otherwise work.

to the state's Governor

(note : the Governor of California is currently facing a Recall election. That's probably not the case in your own state)

Subject: please continue mask mandates til "herd health" vax level reached

Dear Gov Newsom,

I voted for you to elect you and will vote to keep you in recall election (unless you do something really really stupid before then)

I'm writing to ask you to do something really really smart, even though some folks may not approve. You can't please all the people all the time, but you can do what is protective of the health of all the people at this time.

Please keep the mask mandates in force until our state reaches that percentage of population fully vaccinated that health science says will achieve "herd health" (perhaps better called "community health" ?). Or as Dr Fauci would say, every vaccinated person is a "dead end" for the virus, and if there are enough dead ends the virus can't travel. While it may not be possible to predict what percentage of population needs to be vaccinated to achieve this "herd health" level, the best measure may be the new case incidence. What number of new cases per day, week, month would be considered acceptable ?

If you don't think that state wide numbers are the best measure, how about keeping the county measures. Tell the people that mask mandate will be lifted county by county when vaccination percent achieves X percent (75% ? 95% ? ask Dr Fauci what %) and also new case intakes are less than Y per week or month. That would put social pressure on those still unvaccinated to get vaccinated.

Make it clear that counties and cities will still have the right to continue to mandate masks even after the state's mandates are lifted. Likewise such local environments as college campuses will still have the right to continue mandates. (Please notice the results that the UCD campus has achieved, especially the Vet School and the Vet Med Teaching Hospital, which has been extremely rigorous in testing, distancing, and masking.)

Make it clear that businesses will ALWAYS have the right to prohibit entry of persons who are not masked. Their right to refuse entry and service to persons not wearing shoes and shirts has gone unchallenged, and that is merely an esthetic demand. The rational for refusing entry to unmasked persons is protection of life.

If those who say they are vaccinated are allowed to be bare faced, without any doorkeeper checking their vaccination cards, surely we will have a few who, for whatever reason, will be lying. Gives a whole new meaning to the phrase "bare faced liar".

to your local County Board of Supervisors

Dear County Board,

Please, regardless of what the state does and what other counties may do, please continue to mandate masks for all indoor businesses and all large crowds indoors or outdoors. We need to continue masking everyone until we finally achieve "herd health" level of vaccination. We still have a long way to go to get to that level.

Make it clear that businesses will ALWAYS have the right to prohibit entry of persons who are not masked. Their right to refuse entry and service to persons not wearing shoes and shirts has gone unchallenged, and that is merely an esthetic demand. The rational for refusing entry to unmasked persons is protection of life.

The mask mandate must apply to ALL persons, whether or not they say that they are vaccinated. (Public places are not like small private gatherings of family and friends, ie those who can count on one another's statements.) If those who say they are vaccinated are allowed to be bare faced, without any doorkeeper checking their vaccination cards, surely we will have a few who, for whatever reason, will be lying. Gives a whole new meaning to the phrase "bare faced liar".

to your local City Council

Dear City Council ,

Please, regardless of what the state does and what the county does, please continue to mandate masks for all indoor businesses and all large crowds indoors or outdoors. We need to continue masking everyone until we finally achieve "herd health" level of vaccination. We still have a long way to go to get to that level.

Make it clear that businesses will ALWAYS have the right to prohibit entry of persons who are not masked. Their right to refuse entry and service to persons not wearing shoes and shirts has gone unchallenged, and that is merely an esthetic demand. The rational for refusing entry to unmasked persons is protection of life.

The mask mandate must apply to ALL persons, whether or not they say that they are vaccinated. (Public places are not like small private gatherings of family and friends, ie those who can count on one another's statements.) If those who say they are vaccinated are allowed to be bare faced, without any doorkeeper checking their vaccination cards, surely we will have a few who, for whatever reason, will be lying. Gives a whole new meaning to the phrase "bare faced liar".

to school board, other public units

(essentially same as to City Council)

to store managers (where you shop)

Dear Store Manager,

As a customer of your store, I urge you to continue to require face masks, covering nose and mouth, regardless of whether state, county, or city continues to mandate masks. Masking must continue until a high enough percentage of our population has been fully vaccinated to have reached the "herd health" level. We still are a long way from that level.

As a customer who values her health and that of our community, I CANNOT shop (and spend my money) at any store that does not require masks of ALL customers and ALL employees who have contact with customers. I say "ALL" because you don't have the ability to verify any customer's claim that they are fully vaccinated. (You might have ability to verify your employees' vaccination status, but HIPPA law probably prevents that.)

You certainly DO have every right to demand that customers must be masked to enter. The right to say "no mask, no merchandise" or "no mask, no market entry", just as so many stores have said for years "no shoes, no shirt, no service". Shoes and shirt are merely an esthetic issue. Mask are an issue of protection of the wearer's health and the health of everyone else sharing air space.

Please continue to require masks.

        Your (now fully vaccinated) customer,

and for those who are willing to make a demonstration :

If you see a store that is allowing unmasked people to enter, put on your own mask, but at the entry point take off your shoes (possibly keeping your socks on ?). If you are male (in physical appearance), you could consider taking off your shirt. If you are female (in physical appearance), taking off your shirt might risk arrest, but you could just lift the lower hem as if you are about to peel off the shirt.

If you've still got that good old '60s and '70s spirit of protest marches, and if you can find a few others who likewise have the spirit, you could actually picket the store. Everyone wearing masks, but none wearing shoes and men shirtless. Maybe some of the women could just wear a bra or bikini top on which flames are painted (in honor of accusations of being a "bra burner")

Maybe it's time for me to do a "shoeless, shirtless, but not maskless" protest demo. I'd probably get arrested, but since I didn't ever get arrested in a protest back when I was in college in the '60s, maybe it's not too late to reclaim my status as a radical.

an easier (passive) action : display your card.

After you are fully vaccinated, you could wear a copy of your vaccination card in a plastic card holder on a pin or lanyard. You will of course still be wearing your face mask. It's a quiet statement that masks are still important , even for those who are vaccinated.

You may want to erase your patient number and your date of birth from the copy you will be displaying.

Keep your original vaccination card in a safe place. CDC says don't laminate it because that makes it harder to read. So make a photocopy or other copy and put the copy in a card holder or lamination. You don't even need to go to the copy shop if you have a scanner and printer. That's how I made my copy, and saved the file on my computer.

Those of you who have cell phones may want to keep an image of your card on your omnipresent phone as well as an image on your desktop/laptop/tablet computer. Fine with me.

I've been wearing my card on a lanyard for the past couple of months. Only when going out in public of course. And of course, still masked.

• Everybody Must Get Masked, song lyrics to the tune of Dylan's Rainy Day Women, better known as "everybody must get stoned". written in June 2020.