The public health unit has confirmed that mandatory face covering requirements will not be implemented in our counties. I am appreciative of the 161 individuals who supported this position throughout the process. We will continue to monitor local health policies to ensure that they remain balanced and responsive to the …
August 4, 2020
Final supporters
Medical Officer of Health
Huron Perth Public Health
653 West Gore Street
Stratford ON N5A 1L4
Dr. Miriam Klassen,
We as citizens of Huron & Perth, do not agree that face coverings should be required in our counties. Although we certainly agree with an individual's right to wear a mask or face covering and we agree that it is a business' right to refuse customers for not wearing a face covering, we feel this should not be recommended for every business and every citizen.
All the precautions we have taken during this pandemic were to "flatten the curve." It is our firm belief that through our past action that we have successfully flattened this curve. As of this writing, the total number of active cases is two. Businesses have spent thousands of dollars to keep themselves and their customers safe using barriers and social distancing techniques, among other measures. The people of Huron and Perth were told in the not so recent past that wearing masks would keep us less safe; it gives people a false sense of security and that it leads to us touching our faces more than ever, potentially spreading the virus.
Your decision to require the use of face coverings will simply lead to further distress for small businesses, especially restaurants and small retail businesses. These are the establishments who have already been hurt the most during this pandemic. The added nuisance of remembering to have and wear a face covering will serve to deter many people from visiting their local stores. They will order online or simply go without.
We would also like to point out that the face covering information on the Huron Perth Public Health website is very contradictory. As an example it is stated that face coverings are required in:
"Any areas in which visitors interact with one another or with staff members and any areas that are open or accessible to members of the public."
Reading further under “How will this be enforced?” we find that:
"Operators of establishments are expected to use their “best efforts” to implement their face covering policies." and further that:
"HPPH is not asking for owners/operators to deny service to people who cannot wear masks and is not recommending that they do so."
All of this leads us to ask, have face coverings been mandated or not?
Also, we take great concern that this mandate did not follow the democratic process. The decision to create this mandate was not voted upon by our municipal governments. While we recognize there are ongoing Provincial emergency orders in effect, we do not agree that this is the time to forgo democracy. This is essentially legislation without representation.
Finally, we would like to point out that on Monday July 6th, mystratfordnow.com reported that you would not mandate face coverings at this time. Three days later, mystratfordnow.com reported that you were mandating face coverings. What changed in those three days? With the obvious lack of a surge in Covid-19 cases here in Huron and Perth we can’t help but ask, why now?
We do not take this matter lightly and ask that you take our concerns seriously and reverse this mandate.
Updates
July 27, 2020
The momentum behind this petition highlights the growing concern regarding local health mandates. It is clear that many residents prioritize personal discretion over broad requirements for their daily lives.
Reached 100 supporters
July 27, 2020
30 Comments
There are people who can't wear a mask and making them mandatory can cause stress to those individuals because others will treat them badly. As a person who can't wear one, my stress has gotten severe because of that fear. Life is tough enough, that only makes it worse.
I feel it’s Should be a choice, Working all day in a mask is not healthy, our area is not at a high risk! I feel for all the factory workers and people stuck in a mask all day breathing their own CO2 and weakening their immune system‘s
People keep saying "it's only for a short time". Really? Our cases have been declining and virtually non existent for the past couple of months, meaning what we were already doing was working and NOW we implement mask wearing. Clearly there is no good reason needed to enforce these measures which are not remotely backed by science and could in fact be harmful. Time to take back our rights and freedoms.
I work in a restaurant where in the kitchen and you do not wear a mask. When serving the food then mask is worn. How much sense does this make? When touching food, no mask when serving food mask.
This certainly does deter myself from physically going to a store or restaurant. I will do any shopping on line that I can. This is a great detriment to the local economy. It is a huge joke watching people where masks alone in there car and watching them wear it improperly plus touching there mask constantly thus defeating the purpose. Shame on fear mongering the people to believe it will help.
If you want to wear a mask go ahead but should not be mandatory.
Total deaths in Huron & Perth counties from Corona is 5 out of the population approximately 97,300. Between March 9th to August 7th 2020, the total affected by Corona in this region is 74 people. Over the 151 days as described above, the death toll is 0.005% of the population and an infection rate of approximately 2 people per day. A pandemic is defined as "occurring over a wide geographic area and affecting an exceptionally high proportion of the population" according to Merriam-Webster. What we have witnessed, in our region of Huron & Perth counties since March, is NOT a pandemic and not even close to the amount of people regularly infected yearly by the multiple strains of Influenza. The math doesn't lie and the Huron-Perth Public Health Unit cannot hide behind hysteria anymore. References: https://www.hpph.ca/en/health-matters/covid-19-in-huron-and-perth.aspx https://covid-19.ontario.ca/ https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/diseases/2019-novel-coronavirus-infection.html#a1
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The public health unit has confirmed that mandatory face covering requirements will not be implemented in our counties. I am appreciative of the 161 individuals who supported this position throughout the process. We will continue to monitor local health policies to ensure that they remain balanced and responsive to the …
August 4, 2020
Final supporters
Medical Officer of Health
Huron Perth Public Health
653 West Gore Street
Stratford ON N5A 1L4
Dr. Miriam Klassen,
We as citizens of Huron & Perth, do not agree that face coverings should be required in our counties. Although we certainly agree with an individual's right to wear a mask or face covering and we agree that it is a business' right to refuse customers for not wearing a face covering, we feel this should not be recommended for every business and every citizen.
All the precautions we have taken during this pandemic were to "flatten the curve." It is our firm belief that through our past action that we have successfully flattened this curve. As of this writing, the total number of active cases is two. Businesses have spent thousands of dollars to keep themselves and their customers safe using barriers and social distancing techniques, among other measures. The people of Huron and Perth were told in the not so recent past that wearing masks would keep us less safe; it gives people a false sense of security and that it leads to us touching our faces more than ever, potentially spreading the virus.
Your decision to require the use of face coverings will simply lead to further distress for small businesses, especially restaurants and small retail businesses. These are the establishments who have already been hurt the most during this pandemic. The added nuisance of remembering to have and wear a face covering will serve to deter many people from visiting their local stores. They will order online or simply go without.
We would also like to point out that the face covering information on the Huron Perth Public Health website is very contradictory. As an example it is stated that face coverings are required in:
"Any areas in which visitors interact with one another or with staff members and any areas that are open or accessible to members of the public."
Reading further under “How will this be enforced?” we find that:
"Operators of establishments are expected to use their “best efforts” to implement their face covering policies." and further that:
"HPPH is not asking for owners/operators to deny service to people who cannot wear masks and is not recommending that they do so."
All of this leads us to ask, have face coverings been mandated or not?
Also, we take great concern that this mandate did not follow the democratic process. The decision to create this mandate was not voted upon by our municipal governments. While we recognize there are ongoing Provincial emergency orders in effect, we do not agree that this is the time to forgo democracy. This is essentially legislation without representation.
Finally, we would like to point out that on Monday July 6th, mystratfordnow.com reported that you would not mandate face coverings at this time. Three days later, mystratfordnow.com reported that you were mandating face coverings. What changed in those three days? With the obvious lack of a surge in Covid-19 cases here in Huron and Perth we can’t help but ask, why now?
We do not take this matter lightly and ask that you take our concerns seriously and reverse this mandate.
Updates
July 27, 2020
The momentum behind this petition highlights the growing concern regarding local health mandates. It is clear that many residents prioritize personal discretion over broad requirements for their daily lives.
Reached 100 supporters
July 27, 2020
30 Comments
Why do countless doctors all around the world tell us that masks are not necessary, will not protect us and will compromise our immune systems, and yet at a time when our numbers of positive cases are almost non-existent, we are told we must wear one? It doesn’t make sense that healthy people are made to wear a mask. In a democracy, we should have the right to choose. If that right is taken from us, we are no longer in a democracy!
There are people who can't wear a mask and making them mandatory can cause stress to those individuals because others will treat them badly. As a person who can't wear one, my stress has gotten severe because of that fear. Life is tough enough, that only makes it worse.
I feel it’s Should be a choice, Working all day in a mask is not healthy, our area is not at a high risk! I feel for all the factory workers and people stuck in a mask all day breathing their own CO2 and weakening their immune system‘s
People keep saying "it's only for a short time". Really? Our cases have been declining and virtually non existent for the past couple of months, meaning what we were already doing was working and NOW we implement mask wearing. Clearly there is no good reason needed to enforce these measures which are not remotely backed by science and could in fact be harmful. Time to take back our rights and freedoms.
I work in a restaurant where in the kitchen and you do not wear a mask. When serving the food then mask is worn. How much sense does this make? When touching food, no mask when serving food mask.
This certainly does deter myself from physically going to a store or restaurant. I will do any shopping on line that I can. This is a great detriment to the local economy. It is a huge joke watching people where masks alone in there car and watching them wear it improperly plus touching there mask constantly thus defeating the purpose. Shame on fear mongering the people to believe it will help.
If you want to wear a mask go ahead but should not be mandatory.
Total deaths in Huron & Perth counties from Corona is 5 out of the population approximately 97,300. Between March 9th to August 7th 2020, the total affected by Corona in this region is 74 people. Over the 151 days as described above, the death toll is 0.005% of the population and an infection rate of approximately 2 people per day. A pandemic is defined as "occurring over a wide geographic area and affecting an exceptionally high proportion of the population" according to Merriam-Webster. What we have witnessed, in our region of Huron & Perth counties since March, is NOT a pandemic and not even close to the amount of people regularly infected yearly by the multiple strains of Influenza. The math doesn't lie and the Huron-Perth Public Health Unit cannot hide behind hysteria anymore. References: https://www.hpph.ca/en/health-matters/covid-19-in-huron-and-perth.aspx https://covid-19.ontario.ca/ https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/diseases/2019-novel-coronavirus-infection.html#a1
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Why do countless doctors all around the world tell us that masks are not necessary, will not protect us and will compromise our immune systems, and yet at a time when our numbers of positive cases are almost non-existent, we are told we must wear one? It doesn’t make sense that healthy people are made to wear a mask. In a democracy, we should have the right to choose. If that right is taken from us, we are no longer in a democracy!