ACT NOW JACKSON, WY: Tell Teton County Policy Makers to Make Mask-Wearing Voluntary.

Mandatory Masks Endanger Your Health and Your Liberties.

Published: Sep 13, 2021

Our Stand

The Teton County Board of County Commissioners voted 3-2 on September 2^nd, 2021, to extend Teton District Health Officer Dr. Travis Riddell’s mask mandate through the end of 2021.
This mandate followed an identical, unanimous Monday vote from the Jackson Town Council, so now all of Teton County is subject to these masking requirements. The only exception would be if The Valley’s COVID-19 risk level drops to low or moderate before December 31.
The mask mandate is in line with recommendations from the Teton District Board of Health. Paul Beaupre, John’s Health’s COVID-19 czar, said the available evidence regarding masking doesn’t raise alarms, “I look carefully and I have others in the hospital who look carefully at the world literature, and there have not been really any excellent studies on the long-term psychological effects of masking,” Beaupre told commissioners.
Please email the Teton County Board of County Commissioners and tell them that if there truly are no long-term psychological studies on masking, we shouldn’t be mandating them for people as we don’t know what the repercussions might be. Ask the board to rescind their mandate and make masks optional, as we know a one-sized-fits-all approach never works for all individuals in society.
Please only take action if you are in Teton County, thank you.

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Mandatory Masks Can Cause Considerable Harm and Are Not Proven Effective

Evidence that face masks reduce the transmission of viral respiratory infections within community settings is equivocal at best.^[1]^,{2],[3] A recent meta-analysis of scientific literature, including 11 randomized, controlled trials and 10 observational studies, found that there was no clear clinical or laboratory-confirmed evidence that masks prevent infection.^[4]

To the contrary, the study warned that facemasks “…may even increase transmission if they act as fomites [objects or materials that are likely to carry infection] or prompt other behaviors that transmit the virus such as face touching.”

This echoes World Health Organization (WHO) guidance published on January 29, 2020, titled, “Advice on the use of masks in the community, during home care and in healthcare settings in the context of the novel coronavirus (‎‎‎‎‎2019-nCoV)‎‎‎‎‎ outbreak.”^[5] In it, the WHO says, “Wearing medical masks when not indicated may cause unnecessary cost, procurement burden and create a false sense of security that can lead to neglecting other essential measures such as hand hygiene practices.” Furthermore, the January 2020 WHO guidance stated, “Cloth (e.g., cotton or gauze) masks are not recommended under any circumstance.”

Cloth masks have been found to be particularly problematic,^[6]^,[7],[8] and some masks have raised concerns because they’ve been treated with a registered pesticide.^[9]^,[10] A British Medical Journal (BMJ) study published in April 2020 cautions against the use of cloth masks, citing “Moisture retention, reuse of cloth masks and poor filtration may result in increased risk of infection.”^[11] The WHO affirms increased infection risk with cloth masks in its latest June 5, 2020 guidance.^[12] It based its guidance on an earlier BMJ study that found the penetration of particles to be 97% in the cloth mask group, with significantly higher rates of infection and influenza-like illness.^[13]

A study on the CDC website that reviewed 10 different randomized clinical trials worldwide on highly infectious respiratory virus transmission found “no significant reduction” in “transmission with the use of face masks.”^[14]

Given the lack of evidence for their use,^[15]^{,[16],[17],[18],[19],[20]}and flip-flopping advice both against ^[21]^[22] and for their use by authoritative health agencies like the WHO, the increasing pressure to wear masks in public — and to be able to access basic services required to maintain one’s health, liberty and livelihood — constitutes an unnecessary power grab and means of controlling the population.

The Great Mask Divide

Masks have become one of the most controversial issues of our time.^[23]^,24],[25] Those who are seen in public without a mask are often judged and discriminated against,^[26]^,[27] even if they have a condition that precludes compliance. Harassment and discrimination have become rampant,^[28]^,[29] and fellow citizens are policing each other with very little to no knowledge of why someone may or may not be wearing a mask.^[30]^,[31]

Even in communities that have mask exceptions for certain members of the population, those individuals are no longer allowed to fully participate in society because businesses are barring them or won’t provide services to them without a mask. It’s a breach of an individual’s privacy and autonomy to not be able to go into public without being discriminated against, and banning people from entering or participating in society because they don’t wear a mask violates their constitutional rights.^[32]

These types of breaches have sparked lawsuits nationwide from individuals claiming they have been personally or financially harmed from mandatory mask measures.^[33]^,[34],[35] Some also contend that forcing people with medical conditions to wear masks violates Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act,^[36] which prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability of “enjoyment of services, facilities, privileges, advantages or accommodations by any person who … operates a place of public accommodation.”^[37]

Individual Health Is the Responsibility of the Individual, Not the State

With unbridled governmental control throughout much of 2020 — under the guise of emergency orders needed to curb coronavirus — citizens from coast to coast have seen their civil, constitutional and religious rights trampled upon.^[38]^,[39] An onslaught of executive orders have shaped nearly every aspect of our personal lives, from where we can go and what activities we’re allowed to engage in, to how we educate our children, to how we earn a living, to how we worship. ^[40]

They have also dictated which medical philosophies we embrace and which medical treatments we can receive. In doing so, we’ve been extremely restricted in how we’ve been able to care for ourselves and support our immune systems — and we’ve been asked to follow guidelines that are not evidence-based “for the greater good.”

Although the government plays a role in controlling the spread of infectious illness, adults are responsible for their own health;^[41] each person has the right to responsibly make choices about what precautions and perceived risks they take. It’s not incumbent on government officials to direct individual health decisions, and granting them this power is dangerous. Individuals are much more qualified than public servants to weigh the risks and benefits of their own personal actions.

Public officials should not impose mandates to seek compliance. Mandates perpetuate the idea that individuals lack the moral or intellectual capacity to make sound decisions for themselves and their children, so the state needs to do it for them.^[43] Individuals are capable of making responsible decisions,^[42] and those decisions must take a person’s whole health into account.

The health of the individual cannot be forsaken or sacrificed for the collective. We can only have a healthy society when that society is made up of healthy individuals.^[44] Health is a personal right and responsibility. It is not something that we should look to the government to bestow on us or guarantee.

It’s Time to Stand – Urge Your Lawmakers to Make Face Coverings Voluntary

Never before has it been so important for you to stand up for your rights! Mandatory medicine and mandated interventions such as social distancing and mask-wearing have no place in a free society;^[45]^,[46] citizens have the right to make responsible decisions about what is best for themselves and their children based on their own unique circumstances.

Please stand up against medical tyranny by sending your county commissioners and town council members a pre-drafted email urging them to protect everyone in the community by ensuring that masks are voluntary, not mandatory. When you’re finished, please share this vital campaign with your friends, family, neighbors and co-workers. Remind them that constitutional rights don’t stop being important in times of emergency;^[47]^,[48] they become more important.

References

[1] https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/health/2020/07/03/covid-face-masks-states-require-public/5371503002/

[2] Med Hypotheses. 2020 May 19;143:109855.doi: 10.1016/j.mehy.2020.109855. Online ahead of print.

[3] Ann Intern Med. 2020 Jun 24;M20-3213. doi: 10.7326/M20-3213. Online ahead of print.

[4] medRxiv – April 6, 2020

[5] https://www.qeios.com/read/1SC5L4

[6] https://apps.who.int/iris/handle/10665/330987

[7] https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/5/4/e006577

[8] Cardiol J. 2020;27(2):218-219. doi: 10.5603/CJ.a2020.0054. Epub 2020 Apr 14.

[9 ] The Epoch Times

[10] https://www.newschannel5.com/news/newschannel-5-investigates/tennessee-governors-free-sock-masks-treated-with-registered-pesticide

[11] https://beyondpesticides.org/dailynewsblog/2020/06/face-masks-that-contain-toxic-pesticide-distributed-in-tennessee-for-coronavirus-then-recalled/