Democratic County Commissioner Skip Alston is continuing his crusade to promote social distancing and that’s exactly what he did at the Guilford County Board of Commissioners Thursday, June 18 meeting after county staff had set up the meeting the way it has for decades – with all the commissioners seated behind the dais and less than six feet from each other.
Before the biggest meeting of the year – the second meeting in June where the board adopts a county budget – Alston told staff that the seating arrangements weren’t acceptable and he asked for an individual table and chair. So the meeting was held with the board seated at the dais and with Alston seated at his own table on the red carpet in front of the other potential coronavirus carriers. No man is an island but Alston sort of looked like one at the June 18 meeting.
Alston said before the meeting – as he was helping staff set up his table and chair and move his microphone – that the commissioners needed to set an example since the coronavirus in this state is now as much a threat as ever and it’s vital that people continue to follow the guidance from health officials including wearing masks, socially distancing and washing hands.
The Board of Commissioners has taken many steps in recent months to reduce the spread of the virus, such as excluding the public from meetings and taping off most of the chairs in the commissioners meeting room in the Old Guilford County Court House so that county staff and media allowed in maintain at least three empty seats between each other.
As for wearing masks, the board members have been doing what they have all along. For the most part, the four Democratic commissioners wear masks at meetings and the five Republicans do not.
The whole social distancing thing is of questionable value. Would the government lie to us? In 1962, I was attending Tinker Elementary on MacDill AFB in Tampa, FL. During the Cuban Missile Crisis, MacDill was a prime target for Russian missiles. About every other day, we had a bomb drill at school. If we were at our desks, we had to get under our desks. If we were in the hallway, we had to crouch on the floor at the base of the wall. If I had known then what I know now, I would have just stayed at my desk and read a book. That exercise was not going to protect me from a nuclear blast and the government knew it. That mask, the sheet of plastic, and the six feet of space will be no more successful in saving lives than crawling under my desk was at protecting mine. This is just to calm the public while the government looks for a real answer. Why can’t they just be honest? In sixty years people will look back and laugh at what we did .
That’s just “classic Skip”… He always finds a way to be the center of attention.
Once again the Republican Commissioners have politicized the virus, set a horrible example and proven once again they care nothing about the community as a whole. And that’s only the part the public sees… Thank you Mr Alston for setting a good example and showing YOU care about the community.
Kudos to Skip Alston for setting a good example and following COMMON sense when the numbers for newly hospitalized symptomatic SARS-CoV2 virus cases are on the rise likely a result of exposure to asymptomatic non-mask wearing and uncaring carriers of this potentially deadly virus. Thank you Mr Alston!
No, it’s likely a result of a large number of protesters and rioters all over the state for the past three weeks. Your hypothesis is way off, as the research shows that the likelihood of asymptomatic spread is highly unlikely. You hypocritical liberals never take responsibility for your irresponsible actions. You virtue-signal like Skip is doing here.
Skippy has been the class clown for decades. His behavior is always what one would expect from such a fellow.
Plus ca change…
Typical symbolizism over substance he is within 6 feet of the people setting up the table and chairs etc. without gloves. Look at the facts of spread and death rates statistics don’t lie but liars use statistics
It’s appropriate that the democrats wear masks, since they like to steal from us. To those who think Skip was setting a good example, it would be a far better example for him to renounce his racist politics and the democrat party.
If the council wears a mask or not, that is their decision. The orders/requests to wear a mask, and social distance are common sense. But is up to the individual on how they wish to pass their lives, not a government edict.
I hate to stomp a dead muskrat, but I think that the LEFT wants to hamstring our health and economic livelihood in order to cause us more hardship – until the November elections. From now till then, they want tohold their thumb down on us and the economy so that we will look to their (hijacked) party for salvation. The Republican party, if it wants to stop this, has to put forth their position factually, and forcefully.
Whatever you do, VOTE. You can’t whine about anything if you don’t.
Quit the Coop