JACKIE TAYLOR | December 2, 2020

Good for the goose, good for the gander?

I’ve had comments from some of my friends that they know where I stand when it comes to COVID, masks and the like. Actually, I have several levels of thought on the virus.

First off, it is real, it is to be taken seriously, and I’ve had friends die from the disease. There is nothing like death to make you think about a virus that came from a lab in Wuhan, China and know that it was designed to kill.

Given the statement that the virus can kill, makes me think of the judge on Forged in Fire when speaking of a blade, “Your weapon will kill.” I also see the power plays going on to control people, the unfairness of who is quarantined and how long some are quarantined compared to others.

That is what upsets me – the playing field is totally skewed depending on who you are, what you do and more. 

After hearing of a first responder that was working in public, while wearing a mask, when a family member tested positive with COVID, I began wondering why that family member wasn’t in quarantine like other people had been forced into.

According to the KDHE website for coronavirus rules, https://www.coronavirus.kdheks.gov/, “People who work in healthcare, public health, and law enforcement may be allowed a modified quarantine which allows them to continue working during their 14-day quarantine period while wearing appropriate Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) as long as they remain symptom free; the decision to allow a modified quarantine is made by the local health officer. Additionally, people who work in the meat packing industry may be allowed a modified quarantine if the facility that they work for meets the requirements for modified quarantine and classrooms of students and teachers/staff may be allowed a modified quarantine if their school meets the requirements for modified quarantine. Both of these modified-quarantines allow these groups to continue working or attending school during their 14-day quarantine period as long as they remain symptom free; the decision to allow a modified quarantine is made by the local health officer. Employees who were potentially exposed to COVID-19 due to exposure to a case should monitor for signs and symptoms of COVID-19, including checking for a fever of 100.4 (F) or higher at least twice per day and monitoring for lower respiratory symptoms including cough or shortness of breath. A symptoms log is included at the end of this document. If symptoms develop during the 14-day quarantine period, employees should stop work immediately and notify their employer and public health.”

So the above explains why some people can wear a mask while being around someone who tested positive and others are quarantined – according to the state.

Looking at it from an employer that lost two employees over the course of several months when they were near someone who tested positive and remained symptom free, I feel the rules are arbitrary and made up for different employment groups.

I understand that first responders are very valuable; I’d be the last person to question that. But I also understand that every small business out there is valuable, and their people are valuable. 

I found it interesting on the meat packing industry being part of a modified quarantine schedule. When Americans saw their meat supply slow to a dangerous level, things apparently changed. 

The Sentinel, https://sentinelksmo.org/ reported, “Two of the other counties with the highest COVID case rates – Ford and Seward – have meatpacking clusters but their survival rates exceed the 98.9% state average, at 99.8% and 99.5%, respectively.  Sheridan County, another sparsely populated county in northwest Kansas, has 1,182 cases per 10,000 of population and a 100% survival rate.”

So cases do not necessarily translate into deaths and modified quarantine is appropriate for the meat packing industry.

With that, I feel modified quarantine is appropriate for all industries. Dr. Fauci said to get people to buy into the quarantine thing that the government needs to lessen a normal quarantine period from 14 days to seven to 10 days. Arbitrary I’d say.

Interesting when my nurse daughter-in-law said the incubation period for COVID is often five to seven days. 

So masks and modified quarantine periods are fine for school employees, first responders and meat packers but others not in those industries, even if not first-hand exposed to a positive COVID case, must quarantine for 14 days – that is ridiculous. Get it together and get everyone on the same playing field. Quit making some people more or less valuable than others and make it fair. 

I feel fortunate we live in Kansas; if we were in California, apparently church attendance is equated to living in a COVID –infected test tube and no one seeking God will make it out alive without killing millions of people after they sing Amazing Grace.

The contradictions created by the virus are what is making people fight what is being thrust upon them. 

Most people aren’t fighting that they have to wear a mask from time to time; they are fighting a government that says they have to wear one, even with their own families, and says they have to quarantine when others are not made to.

I, personally, am sick of the inequity of government regulations. I mourn the loss of my friends to a virus none of us wanted, and I mourn the loss of our personal freedom from bureaucrats trying to out-do the other bureaucrat with more regulations for “the betterment of we the people.”