On Monday, Nov. 15 at 6:07 p.m., the Guilford County Board of Commissioners took an action that’s been looked forward to for months by many in the county. The board voted quickly and unanimously to do away with the mandate requiring that masks be worn while indoors at public places in Guilford County.
That rule, punishable by fines, has been in effect since August and – pandemic or not – many people in the county were very glad to see it go.
Over the last several months, the commissioners have been getting a whole lot of negative reviews of the mandate.
The recension of the rule was effective immediately upon the vote.
The entire Board of Commissioners Monday evening meeting lasted only 10 minutes – just long enough for the board to make the motion, second it, take the vote and offer a few reminders to people who may feel like celebrating.
After the vote, Chairman of the Guilford Board of Commissioners Skip Alston said it was important everyone remember that, just because Guilford County has rescinded its mandate doesn’t mean that people can ignore mandates that may be in place in specific areas.
Alston reminded those watching the short Zoom meeting that mandates were still in effect at places like schools and airports and noted that Guilford County government will continue to closely monitor the course of the COVID-19 pandemic in this county.
Alston also, as he often does these days when he speaks publicly, encouraged everyone who has not been vaccinated yet to get vaccinated.
Alston also pointed out to any Guilford County employees who may have been watching the meeting that the county still has an indoor mask mandate in place for county employees and for those people visiting county buildings.
guilford county employees, we still control you
It is about time. I can start shopping and eating out in Guilford County again, instead of Alamance County. Alamance has been nice though.
My son jeep Cherokee nab at kangaroo store off random road on 11/15/2021. Man waiting behind building dash out and nab his car.
Jillian are you stoned drunk or what. Not sure what you were trying to say
Finally !
Sanity prevails.
What a joke they have made of Guilford County.
Better late than never.
The lemmings must have watched the signing ceremony at the Whitehouse a few hours before and noticed that the gaggle of politicians schmoozing it up kissing, hugging and gloating were not masked up. Evidently the pandemic is officially over so no more blaming everything on covid. I guess it is business as usual blaming Trump and/or conservatives.
Yeah
Do free people need a permit slip to do what is a natural right? Who gave these people extraConstitutional rights over others?
What constitutional rights are being broken? Going into a public store is a privilege? Driving a car is a privilege? Maybe change your attitude and life can get better .maybe your hurting my rights. You don’t have the RIGHT to get me sick or is it just all about you. Oh yeah. Go get your permission slip signed by mom.
You can’t prove that I can give you a virus, but I can prove you are violating my freedom of choice over my own person. Bullys will be drunk on power and love control over others. It’s in their DNA.. To think a microscopic viral organism could not penetrate a piece of cloth over your face is laughable. I’ve been a part of gas mask training in the military and even wearing a rubber mask with dual filters couldn’t keep your eyes from watering from what was in the air while wearing the mask.
It’s YOUR job to keep yourself healthy; no one else’s. Do you get mad and blame the rest of the public when you get a cold? I’m sure you don’t because that would be stupid.
You are free to live in fear if you want to but don’t project it onto the the rest of us who choose not to live in fear. Just because you’re afraid doesn’t give you the right to take away the rights of others.
I used to blame work culture for my getting colds. Modern work culture views taking a sick day when you are sick as a negative so people would always bring their koodies to work and get everyone else sick.
I have really enjoyed not having a cold in over two years.
Just sayin
I agree
It’s called “Freedom of Assembly”.
Mandates will be back by Thanksgiving or soon thereafter, have no fear.
They will find something to restrict our freedoms, perhaps the infestation of giant spiders moving north from Georgia & SC.
You’ll have to wear a spider suit when you go outdoors. You’ll have to pay an exterminator to come in and (for a fee), certify your home spider-free.
Better late than too early.
Early Americans: “Give me liberty or give me death.”
—fights for freedom—-earns it—-fights again—keeps it—-many decades later…
Chris: “Take my liberty so I don’t have to risk getting sick or anything remotely dangerous.”
Good one Don!
Liberals like being told what to do, because they don’t think for themselves.
They’re sheep.
I prefer, Chris “who appreciates the importance of public health and isn’t so overly dramatic about wear a bit of cloth in the chance it helps others as well as myself” versus the Don “Science isn’t real so I will cry baby of a small piece of cloth because I don’t care about other people.”
But you be you.
And you be you. Wear whatever you want. Get vaccinated 3 times in a year or less.
I did. Feels great too! 3 shots and not a worry about covid!
But we are well passed just wearing a bit of cloth aren’t we? Come January the government is mandating vaccines at most businesses aren’t they, Chris? (Except the 5th circuit jist threw a wrench in the old plan) Then they will mandate boosters, then who knows. If Big Joe claims something is “for the greater good”, and sheep like you go along with it no matter how harsh the requirements become, then what the heck did our forefathers fight for?
Getting the vaccine is the right thing to do BUT I agree that mandating the shot outside of the medical and nursing home industry is not going to work.
It will just make the nutters double down and make things worse. Let each individual business decide if they want to risk losing workers over a mandate. The government could offer tax incentives or such but otherwise it is a business risk decision, not a government decision.
But it will keep Biden from getting reelected or hopeful even stop him from considering a run again in 2024.
Personally, I have been vaccinated and have received the booster shot. There is no reason whatsoever for me to wear a mask. Chris, if you wish to wear a mask have at it! I will defend your right to wear a mask far more than you will defend my right not to.
I agree that the time for masks has passed. It has become overkill at this point given the low infection rates in Guilford County. I will still wear in large indoor crowded events maybe but I will likely just avoid crowds for a bit longer. I have the vaccine and booster so feel safe in general.
Masks worked and were needed when the infection rate was above 5% and growing. We have been below 5% for some time now. I also would like to see the mask mandate for schools lifted. Very low risk for kids and most teachers are vaccinated (except the nutters) so time to return to normal.
But better too late than too early when it comes to public health.
Last paragraph on the mask requirement in county buildings…. curious; Why isn’t Mr. Alston wearing one?
Simple,
Because the hypocrisy runs deep & the jerk feels like he needs to control someone/something to feed his ego.
Rowdy, all persons are created equal, but Skip is more equal than the rest of us.
I don’t think he was in a country building. He was probably Zooming in from home like everyone else, It looks like he was using a picture from the commission chambers as a background.
COUNTY building.
It’s Skip-the-Hyp!
Because he is clearly on a zoom calls with a digital background.
Glad comrad skippy admitted defeat. Don’t try and threaten us with the muzzles again. We the people never submitted to the first two mandates and will never comply with future tyranny
Now time to get our incompetent school board to stop abusing the children and let them breathe
Free the children! Imagine going to school for 2 years and never seeing what your teacher looks like without a mask. Imagine the fear a child must experience from a stranger that has a different accent or deep voice. Imagine not knowing the joy your teacher feels that radiates from her facial expressions. This is what our smallest children are experiencing. Yes, they can and have adapted, but at what cost?
LOL, bit dramatic. Most kids have seen their teachers faces. And vis-a-versa as the drop their masks a good deal throughout the day. The kids especially. (Wife works in the school system).
I have assumed the use of masks in crowded classrooms as overkill. Kids are always pulling them down, teachers have to pull them down to be heard clearly when speaking over an entire class. The kids I have spoken to would love to be rid of them but none of them complain like the adults have over the issue. And kids can be very good at complaining.
End of day, it is time to remove the mandate as positive test rates in Guilford are below 5%, the county wide mandate is over etc… It IS time to let them get schools back to normal. While I don’t agree that masks have caused physical suffering…the overall pandemic has hurt kids educations a great deal. First with poorly run remote learning. Then with added disruptions over masks and over burdened quarantine rules for students.
Hey Skip,how many hotdogs do I have to sell to get a house like yours ? Hmmmmm
None just partner with earl the pearl and open a money pit museum that the city funds
To be fair, I like Skip’s hot dogs.
Once-upon-a-time, far away and long ago; there was an ice cream and hot dog store of yore. Selling ice cream out of a cart, then out of a store. The store was crowded out, and had to be moved twice. The same family kept it for many years. But wait! Just a little while ago, they ran out of family members to run it, and sold it to some people who wanted to make same quick cash. Prices are up, size portions are down, and the quality is WAAAAAAYYYYY down.
The black cherry ice cream tastes like runny soft-serve, with some food coloring in it to try to replicate the former dark cherry red. Mixed in carefully are few little pieces of cherry. Both me and my sister like the coffee ice cream. With no prompting from me, she said it was “no good any more”. Right. The locals will drop this store in a New York minute.
Several years ago, I was headed over to the Doghouse to get a hot dog, but before I got there, I decided there was no way I would knowingly buy anything from a racist, no matter how good it was and no matter how hungry I might be.
I see your point. It’s getting very difficult to boycott every business. They continue to pile on their wokie badge. From Ben & Jerry (Unilever) who cancelled ice cream sales on the West Bank, J.P. Morgan who refuses to process credit card payments at Trump rallies (they say “hate speech”, such hypocrisy), or Tik-Tok (Disney) for pulling content using words such as “queer”, “gay”, “dike”. Look those words up in a dictionary.
You just need to have federal funds for other projects to pay for his hotdogs to get a house like that!!!
St.James Homes?
Just get an elected position, divide and conquer the masses, and you get to feed at the trough, like Skippy, Biden and Obama, like their hero Karl Marx.