Public Hearing scheduled for Thursday, February 25, 9:00 a.m. Pacific Time.
Jackson County Oregon will move from "Extreme Risk" to "High Risk" of COVID spread. Case numbers have dropped.
“This is hopeful news that Jackson County has a decrease in cases and able to move to a lower risk category.”
James Shames, M.D., county health officer
The hearing tomorrow is an up close look at an iteration of a conflict that is happening all across America. Some people welcome COVID restrictions. They are inconvenient but they are saving lives. Other people resent and ignore them and consider it over-reach and tyranny.
The battle is playing out in my community and the hearing is nominally an effort to inform the county governing board how local citizens feel about the COVID restrictions. I recognize that about half the readers of this blog live outside this area. The hearing may be of interest anyway. It is primary source material. The hearing reflects the tensions and division in this country on how we should have--and should now--respond to the COVID epidemic.
Some readers who live in urban areas wonder: "What in the world are those crazy people who refuse to wear masks possibly thinking?" They will get some answers. Not everyone thinks the way they do. Fox viewers are in a bubble, but there are liberal, urban bubbles, too.
Here is a link to view the meeting and to comment:
Here is a link with the Notice of Public Hearing, which includes links to Governor Kate Brown's Guidance on COVID restrictions. It also includes links that will bring readers to a memo by County Counsel, saying that even though Jackson County is a "Home Rule" county, it is subject to the governor's emergency rules. That is unwelcome news to some people, who would like to think this area can ignore the governor.
Background
Many people living in rural America--and frequently their local elected leaders--resent and object to efforts by state governments to require safety measures regarding COVID. Local elected officials, including ones in Oregon, or state officials in rural states like Governor Kristi Noem of South Dakota, win favor with their constituencies by refusing to comply.
Oregon Governor Kate Brown won election because of a very strong showing in the urban area of the state--Greater Portland. She lost everywhere else. She faces opposition based on several parallel political divisions, each reinforcing the other.
She is a Democrat, telling Republicans what they must do.
She is a Portland-area person, reflecting urban views, telling downstate rural people what they must do.
She is an office-bound woman, reflecting nanny-state, goody-goody conscientiousness attempting to control rugged, risk-taking men who work outdoors.
She is a government official with a background in law, telling struggling businesspeople what they must do and cannot do.
She purports to be acting on well-established science and experts, telling people who disbelieve those experts and believe contrary opinions on the danger of COVID and the best way to deal with it.
Governor Brown faced a credibility problem from day one, a built-in group of people primed to feel oppositional. Even if Oregon had a Republican male businessman from rural Oregon serving as governor--unlikely but not impossible--that governor would have had trouble implementing CDC guideline restrictions of the kind Kate Brown did. It would still have been the unwelcome hand of government restricting freedom.
Jackson County, Oregon is a purple mix politically. Population density is a close proxy for political views, particularly as it relates to behaviors relating to sharing resources or burdens. Rural areas in the county voted eight-to-one against requiring automobiles to be inspected for exhaust pollution. Mask-wearing is near-universal in the cities, and is more commonly ignored in rural areas. Rural areas vote against tax levies.
The Jackson County Commission consists of three at-large Commissioners, all Republicans. They have not welcomed Democratic Governor Brown's compliance guidelines. Jackson County has been an area termed "Extreme Risk," although with new daily cases dropping to 48 and a test positivity rate of 6%, the state announced yesterday that with county will drop one notch to a lower risk category. This has huge consequence for restaurants and bars, allowing them to re-open for indoor dining on a limited basis.
Tomorrow's hearing will reveal some mix of opposition to the state rules and support of them. I invite readers to listen, watch, and hear the different points of view. The meeting will be accessible worldwide via Zoom.
3 comments:
If a nuclear bomb dropped on Jackson County, and we had shelters for everyone, would there be those still wandering around outside?
Not the same thing, you say?
Pray tell..
Republicans started losing support in the 80s and adopted the "government is the problem" rhetoric that has led us to the current tragedy, a pandemic coupled with a white nationalist uprising. Ronald Reagan's "nine terrifying words" joke has morphed into the threat of no less than genocide, and if a virus helps out, great. There was concern that "the last one" would start a war.
Turns out there was a real lack of imagination...
Where people get their news and how they act on it matters. Local people trust those they're close to and respect. Regardless of whether they are "experts" but more whether they're expressing an opinion or holding to a "truth"their social group believes. Rural areas are not an exception. Urban settings have several painful examples of death and infection. Three examples spring to mind: an orthodox sect of Jewish believers in NYC, a reunion/birthday party on Long Island, and choir practice at a church in Washington State. Only after the fact view of the situation yielded death and sickness did the individuals involved consider whether they acted appropriately. Most (a majority) not affected felt they "lucked out" or they're too heathy to get Covid. The limited sample of daily interactions by people who didn't become ill but never followed the CDC guidelines validated their distain for the "unnecessary restrictions". The national branding of mask wearing as tyranny served as a political cudgel against the perceived nanny state but made great oratory on the campaign tail. Failure to mitigate financial losses to small businesses added fuel to the outrage. People were being told to not open their shops causing real and significant hardships. Without a national directive each State was left to devise their own protocols. Everything from none to partial lockdown continued to spread the misconception of what the Covid pandemic meant to the average Joe and Jane Citizen. Underneath this all malcontents and conspiracy proponents spread their venom into the public concern intensifying an already once in a lifetime event. Failure to lead at the top resulted in confusion and distrust. Now that there is a new focus on stopping the spread of SARS-CoV-2 as the vaccine is administered new wrinkles have appeared in its delivery and supply. Again the action was spotty pitting group against group in appearance. At the moment the trend of new infections and deaths are declining but remain stubbornly high; and , for the most part out of view in our daily lives.
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