HomeMy WebLinkAbout2022_01_17 AWohlsen_Restaurant MandateFrom:Andrew WohlsenTo:Board of Health
Subject:RE: Restaurant Health Mandates (from a fully vaccinated & boosted restaurant employee)
Date:Monday, January 17, 2022 10:57:49 AM
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Andrew Wohlsen <andrew.wohlsen@gmail.com>10:55 AM (0 minutes ago)
to ABerry
Greetings,
I am writing to you as a fully vaccinated and boosted employee of a small restaurant to request a lifting of county health mandates requiring proof of vaccination and the
wearing of masks by employees. The economic toll of this pandemic cannot be understated, as we all know, and to continue to require behavior that exacerbates this toll
in light of the data regarding the omicron variant is untenable and unnecessary.
Published yesterday in the New Yorker, Dhruv Khullar writes, "By some estimates, the chance that an older, vaccinated person will die of COVID is now lower than the
risk posed by the seasonal flu." The crux of his article centers around the idea that applying policy measures at this point in the pandemic with the same logic as earlier
phases has become anachronistic.
This is illustrated clearly by the most recent numbers posted by Jefferson County Public Health. Though the case rate is 1460.8 per 100,000, the number of current
hospitalized cases is 4. Clearly, Jefferson County hospitals are not being strained by the omicron surge.
And though the data shows that unvaccinated people remain at high risk of severe infection, policy decisions must not be made on their behalf. I do not mean to show a
lack of compassion, but with the widespread availability of free vaccines, that is their decision to make.
I work in a very small restaurant. Our dining room is maybe 300 square feet. To be required to wear a mask in such a small space while I am serving a room full of
unmasked people frankly feels belittling and demeaning, and also makes no sense and follows no sound scientific logic. If I were a customer sitting at a table instead of
the one bringing food, I would be allowed to take my mask off. This is simply silly.
I realize that the current social climate contains many public displays of adult immaturity. However, there remain among these outliers countless adults who retain
powers of sound reason and acute critical thinking skills. It is time to allow businesses to make our own, informed decisions about policies that greatly affect our ability to
function as a successful enterprise, and to allow customers to make their own, informed decisions about whether they wish to patronize a business based on those
policies. Two years is long enough, and, at this point, the science agrees.
Thank you for your time,
Andrew Wohlsen