The following is a letter to the editor submitted by Mendocino County District 3 Supervisor John Haschak, published here as a column, in which he updates his constituents. We encourage the other supervisors to submit letters — we will happily publish them. You can see Haschak’s previous letters to his constituents here. The opinions expressed in this letter are the author’s, not those of The Mendocino Voice.
I want to say thank you to all the many people who are following the public health order. It is not easy for anyone. By following the order, you are providing not just for your own safety but also for our communities.
Mendocino County has been able to keep our infection rates very low. Sonoma County is dealing almost 400 cases.
While this pandemic is a public health crisis, it is important that we respect differing points of view. My viewpoint is that we should keep the politicians out of the medical scientific guidance decisions. I don’t want doctors being told by politicians how to treat the patient. Some may feel that we need to open up everything while others want to be extremely cautious. Most of us are somewhere in between worried about our health, communities and economy.
In order for us to reopen safely and to stay reopened, there are five criteria set out by the state. These are data points to use to determine how we are doing and what we are ready to handle. The five areas are: if there is adequate personal protective equipment, if we have sufficient hospital capacity, the number of cases and hospitalizations, testing capacity, and if we can properly do case investigation and contact tracing.
According to our Public Health Officer, we will meet all the criteria now that our testing capacity will increase with the state sending the Optum Serve mobile lab to Mendocino County. Then the Public Health Officer and Board of Supervisors can send a letter of attestation to the Governor to allow for greater reopening. We do not want to regress in any area which would then cause us to have to retreat from opening up.
West Company is hosting a virtual town hall for the 3rd District from 12-1:00 on Thursday, May 21. We will talk about economic recovery plans and there will be question and answer time. Topics will include food security, broadband, economic recovery, and Career and Technical Education. Details will be forthcoming.
Let’s stay healthy, follow the orders, and be well so that we can escape from this virtual world in which we are living. Please write [email protected] or call 707-972-4214.
John
