Good morning. My name is Sally O’Boyle. I’m a wife, mom, small business owner and native Kentuckian. I have 10 points to cover briefly here and will include documentation with my written comments.
#1 Do masks work to stop a virus?
As Jenny Patten pointed out at September’s hearing, masks could not possibly work to stop a virus due to the size of the virus (tiny) and a mask’s pore size (relatively huge). There is also overwhelming evidence that masks are dangerous to the health of the wearer (a fact acknowledged by the WHO).
Shouldn’t there be an examination of the evidence to determine the truth of these two points before enforcing a potentially dangerous medical intervention on EVERYONE? Who is responsible for the negative health consequences — like staph infections, strep infections, seizures — caused by wearing a mask mandated by government?
#2 Requiring a customer to wear a mask
If a business requires that customers wear one, the business owners must be assuming that the customer is a “direct threat”. The term “direct threat” has a legal ADA definition. It means “a significant risk to the health or safety of others that cannot be eliminated by reasonable accommodation.”
According to the ADA, “(c) In determining whether an individual poses a direct threat to the health or safety of others, a public accommodation must make an individualized assessment … to ascertain: the nature, duration, and severity of the risk; the probability that the potential injury will actually occur; and whether reasonable modifications of policies, practices, or procedures will mitigate the risk.”
This requires that the business have a qualified professional (preferably someone with medical credentials) available to examine the customer to see if a) s/he is healthy enough to wear a mask and, b) to determine if the customer is a “direct threat”.
Who will pay for the training of these examiners?
What is included in the training?
What gives an examiner the authority to conduct an individualized assessment?
What guidance policies have been put in place?
Would this assessment be done in private?
Would HIPPA laws be in play between the examiner & the customer?
#3 Requiring employees to wear a mask
OSHA requires that employees be individually fitted, plus their health status and weather conditions be taken into account before donning a mask. Clearly there are businesses and employees who do not know this.
#4 Practicing medicine without a license
Because a mask is a medical intervention, businesses that require masks and employees who offer masks are practicing medicine without a license.
#5 Imminent "direct threat"
Requiring that everyone wear a mask means there must be an imminent direct threat to everyone around us. If this is true, if the SARS-COV-2 is indeed so deadly, then EVERYONE must be required to follow WHO’s mask guidelines:
Customers must wear a CLEAN FITTED mask OVER THEIR NOSE, MOUTH AND CHIN
Customers must never touch the front of the mask. If they or their children touch the mask, they must be required to DISINFECT their hands immediately.
Masks must be changed if damp or visibly soiled.
Masks MUST be stored between uses in a qualified container (TBD).
Customers caught with their mask under their noses must be removed from the store. No exceptions.
Customers must not be permitted entry if they are seen pulling a mask out of their purse or pocket rather than from a qualified container.
Customers wearing a mask into the store must have their mask examined to see if it is clean. Or require everyone to don a new mask provided by the store upon entering the store.
I realize that these points might seem ridiculous but the virus is either deadly enough that we need to protect ourselves from possible death or it's not. Which is it?
#6 Qualified masks
Masks that comes from a box warning that it “will not provide any protection against coronavirus” are no longer to be used as protection against coronavirus. Which masks are proven to stop the virus? Do we know?
#7 Social distancing as reasonable accommodation
Since social distancing works according to the CDC, then mask-free shoppers must promise to a) be super aware of maintaining 6' distance from other shoppers, and b) not hang out near anyone for over 14 minutes (less than 15 minutes is considered safe per the CDC).
#8 Insurance coverage
By mandating a medical intervention, if a citizen is harmed while wearing a mask, does the state have medical malpractice insurance to cover itself if it were sued for harm caused by this mandated medical intervention? If a business requires a mask, does the business carry insurance sufficient to cover a customer should s/he faint or become ill as the result of wearing a mask?
#9 Mask disposal
Every business must have multiple biohazard waste containers to properly disposed of contaminated masks so that the virus is contained.
#10 ADA “full & equal” requirement
If a customer is not able to safely wear a mask and is forced to wait on the sidewalk while someone else shops for him/her, there are serious questions about whether or not this is equivalent to full & equal access?
How many times has someone gone into a store and found something they needed in the clearance aisle or found something being stocked which wasn’t on the website to be ordered via delivery or curbside?
If you aren’t offered the same access to those types of items, are you getting full and equal access?
What about the selection of meat products? Who goes to the store, grabs the first New York strip steak they see without looking at the others?
Does “full and equal” under ADA actually mean FULL and EQUAL? Or does it mean what others determine full and equal means FOR you?
Those are my 10 points.
I’d also like to share that there is a document called the Great Barrington Declaration written by three world-renowned health professionals: Dr. Kulldorff of Harvard, Dr. Gupta of Oxford & Dr. Bhattacharya of Stanford. As of this morning, over 31,000 medical practitioners and over 11,000 medical & public health scientists have signed it. They do not advocate the wearing of masks except in the most extreme circumstances to protect those most at risk (the elderly who are already sick) and never, ever children.
Finally, our activism does not stop with a public comment. Many of us are working with a nationwide coalition preparing lawsuits to combat the taking of our individual rights by the very people charged with protecting them. We are working with legislators to stop unconstitutional mandates and regulations, and to replace those in positions of power who abuse those powers. We are also prepared to sue businesses who attempt to enforce a mask mandate without following state & federal civil rights, OSHA & ADA laws.
I’m with Connie Kerth and Dawn Cloyd, thank you to everyone who spoke today. It’s incredibly stressful to stand up to those in power, particularly to those who abuse that power. I’m grateful to be in partnership with all of you. Thank you.