Our Pagosa Springs Town Council met on June 29 to hear public input about whether a mandate to wear masks in public places was needed for Pagosa, and to reach some recommendations relative to the general management of COVID-19 in town.
I would have liked to see a very different format — for a topic that concerns severe public health risks, and even actual death. My unrealistic hope was to see health experts on infectious diseases and medical doctors lead this critical meeting, given the destructive power of this novel virus and out of respect for the different scopes of practices or areas of competence. In my dream, health and medical experts and healthcare workers would have addressed the public to provide updated science-based information from national and international reputable sources, would have offered needed education and guidance and would have opened the forum to answer citizens’ questions. Information regarding Colorado’s hospitals and ICUs’ capacity would have been discussed at length, too.
After all, town councils and the general public are not best known for their knowledge of infectious diseases or virology, nor are they expected to be. It would be quite bizarre to hear that an individual had reached out to a town council, or the general public, for help and advice after being given a diagnosis of, for example, Herpes, HPV, HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis C, Influenza, Varicella, Ebola or Dengue, just to name a few. Add to this list our novel COVID-19 which has taken the lives of 135,000 + Americans thus far — and we are still in the first wave.
Most rational beings in such a situation would seek proper medical advice, and would not resort to seeking advice from the general public, or a town council.
In my dream, I would have expected to see Pagosa’s Town Council join in afterwards to inform the general public about the dire need to issue a mandate to wear masks in public places. In this discussion, information about penalties and fines to individuals or businesses violating the new ordinance would be made available to all, signaling a strong commitment to reduce its transmission and thus, better manage its destructive effects on human lives, jobs, and our hospital’s capacity and their healthcare workers’ health.
And just to continue dreaming, I would have hoped that masks would have been made available for free, and referrals for free testing sites would have also been provided and strongly encouraged. In my dream, this type of format would have respected the different scopes of practices and areas of competence, while providing effective leadership and real care to Pagosans and visitors.
What took place on June 29 was, unfortunately, galaxies away from my rational and reasonable hopes and dreams. We heard from the public all kinds of personal opinions in support of and against mask use during this pandemic. Among the opinions against its mandate, I was not surprised to hear the COVID-19 being compared to cancer and cardiovascular disease. Another person spoke about some toxicity theories of an obscure nature which I am unable to replicate here and will not even try. Yet another asserted with confidence that the flu vaccine was responsible for the COVID-19 infections. Another characterized the virus as germs and bacteria. Another stated that making children wear a mask was “absurd”. And the topic of “personal choice” was quite popular.
And on and on and on…
What most impressed me was the degree of confidence each of these individuals exhibited in their beliefs and conspiracy theories — each sounding like a self-appointed expert whose input reflected the ‘only truth’. The opinions in support of a mask mandate varied, and included a handful of our medical doctors in town. I heard what seemed like a pleading tone in their voices when speaking about the necessity of this very small measure, this small personal sacrifice in combating the rapid spread of the virus. The doctors attending the meeting were not invited to the panel for a presentation.
San Juan Basin Public Health (SJBPH) was also represented among the attending public. Its representative offered to provide information and to answer any questions. To its credit, the town council offered to “promote” this representative to the panelist level, but such an offer was declined and the SJBHP remained quiet in the background for most or all of the remainder of this long meeting.
Then, the Town Council presented their individual views without reaching a final decision. The meeting was covered in detail in Bill Hudson’s recent editorial series in the Daily Post, here.
Specially noteworthy was the degree of hesitation and struggle among Town Council members with how to word recommendations about using masks. Enforcing a new ordinance seemed, to them, like an almost impossible task. The Council appears to continue to welcome visitors at any cost, even when most visitors come from the surrounding states where COVID-19 has gotten completely out of control in the last few weeks since reopening from pseudo-lock-down measures. Wording such as “recommends” was preferred to “strongly recommends” so that visitors would not get too upset. Council members participated in this meeting from the safety of their own homes, not needing to wear a mask there, although just for the sake of setting a good example, they could have worn one at least part of the time.
Role modeling mask use among Town and County officials is apparently not a priority.
Ana M. Sancho Sama, PhD, Licensed Psychologist, lives in Spain.