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Restriction after restriction has come down from Gov. Roy Cooper and other officials during the pandemic mandating face masks, limitations on public gatherings, controls over small businesses and other rules — but some folks are saying enough is enough.
That includes a newly formed organization, Concerned Citizens of Surry County.
“We started this group out of great concern for what we see happening in regards to lockdowns and executive orders from our governor that seem to flow freely and with little or no accountability,” Durenda Wilson, one of its members, said Thursday.
She added that “we know the virus has been physically devastating for a small percentage of the population, but that the ‘cure’ has been more devastating than the virus itself to most of the population.”
Wilson was speaking at an afternoon session of the Mount Airy Board of Commissioners, which also heard from three others from the group that held its first meeting in late December. Concerned Citizens of Surry County has about 50 members so far, she said Saturday.
The speakers, including a teenager, made their comments to city officials during a public forum portion of the council meeting when citizens may address any topic related to city government, which includes COVID management.
In summary, their statements generally acknowledged the threat represented by the coronavirus, while also recognizing that governmental mandates have created other problems affecting society — posing more of a damage risk statistically than COVID-19 in their estimation.
“The mask mandates and lockdowns do not work,” said Amanda Sparks, another forum speaker from the new group identifying herself as a longtime resident of the county, in reference to areas having the highest disease rates despite the toughest restrictions.
Sparks says she believes citizens should have more of a choice with the government-issued guidelines.
“At this point I feel like we all understand the risk and should be allowed to do our own risk assessment and live our lives as we see fit.”
“We are not anti-mask,” Wilson said Saturday in clarifying the stance of Concerned Citizens of Surry County, which is seeking to tackle the issue through a grassroots movement. “We are pro-mask choice.”
None of those attending Thursday’s city council meeting on behalf of the new group were wearing masks.
Ashlene O’Donnell, the teen who spoke, urged that kids not be forced to use masks, calling it unhealthy.
Collateral damage
Wilson said during her time at the podium that there is a 99-percent survival rate for the virus and the statistical likelihood of contracting COVID-19 is small for the population as a whole.
In echoing sentiments voiced by Sparks earlier, group member Misty O’Donnell said there is no evidence that the rules handed down guarantee one won’t get the coronavirus.
“Many people who have masked up from the beginning and were extremely cautious about where they went still got COVID,” Misty O’Donnell reasoned. “We have been lied to from the beginning about whether we should be wearing them or not.”
Meanwhile, the restrictions are causing what they believe is more readily identifiable harm in other areas of people’s lives, particularly among the young and elderly, group members said.
“We know that in some states as many as one-third to half of small businesses have closed their doors for good,” Wilson stated during the forum, “that suicide rates, domestic abuse and addiction have spiked.”
“I fear some of the damage that we have done to our children is irreversible,” Sparks said of students being isolated in their homes away from friends and unable to participate in field-trip activities such as visits to museums.
The elderly population also has suffered, group members say, especially those who’ve been sequestered away in nursing homes.
“They have been stripped of their human rights and essentially locked in a prison,” Sparks said. “Deaths in nursing homes and assisted-living facilities are up, not because of COVID — it’s because of loneliness and failure to thrive.”
“People are not allowed to go to these facilities to check on their family members to see that they are getting cared for,” said Misty O’Donnell, who implied that some caregivers are taking advantage of this lack of interaction. She mentioned one friend who removed her mother from a local nursing home after learning she had not been bathed for 20 days.
While the governor and others say rules on when businesses can open, for example, are aimed at saving lives, Sparks charged that restrictions have been administered unfairly and are contradictory in some cases.
“It makes no sense that small businesses must close, but big-box stores are allowed to stay open,” she added.
Sparks also related her visit to an indoor water park where dozens of people congregated without masks, but when leaving with immediate family members to go to their hotel room, everyone had to wear facial coverings.
“None of this makes sense.”
Wilson said anyone interested in joining the new group can visit a website at https://ift.tt/2XtU3iW for instructions on how to do that, along with being advised of the location for its next meeting on Jan. 26.
City officials react
Members of the Mount Airy Board of Commissioners responded to the forum comments near the end of Thursday afternoon’s meeting when officials offered closing remarks.
“I just want to thank everybody that came and spoke at the public forum,” Commissioner Steve Yokeley said.
But Yokeley pointed out that the city government’s hands largely are tied concerning the COVID restrictions.
“I just want to say that we have to follow the guidelines issued by the state,” he advised. “We can’t do anything less than that.”
Further discussion suggested that comments by members of the new group did strike a chord with municipal officials.
“There were a couple of things that were said that I learned,” said Commissioner Jon Cawley, who also addressed the comparative-risk factor.
“I did know that I’ve got a 20-year-old son and I know that it’s more dangerous for him to drive than it is he is likely to die from COVID,” Cawley observed. “And I’ve been letting him drive for four years.”
But Cawley said this doesn’t mean people should be irresponsible about practices such as wearing masks.
Wilson said Saturday that members of Concerned Citizens of Surry County had visited businesses in downtown Mount Airy to explain its mission, and a large majority of those contacted expressed support for that.
“None of those people feel like they have a voice and we want to give them a voice.”
Tom Joyce may be reached at 336-415-4693 or on Twitter @Me_Reporter.
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