After almost exactly two years, Guilford County government looks like it’s finally moving past COVID-19.
The county has removed the Plexiglas barriers that separated the nine commissioners from each other at the dais in the meeting room in the Old Guilford County Court House, mask requirements on almost all county employees have been lifted, and, there was zero sign of any social distancing when the Board of Commissioners met last week for their annual retreat.
Just a couple of months ago, the county’s residents were testing positive for the disease at a rate of over 20 percent – more than four times the 5 percent mark that county health officials consider “low spread” in the community.
Guilford County Clerk to the Board Robin Keller said that, though the plexiglass barriers have been taken down, the holders for the large shields remained in place since COVID-19 can shoot up after appearing to have all but gone away.
“The barriers are in storage in case we need them again,” Keller said.
Guilford County Manager Mike Halford had required county employees in county buildings to wear masks, however, that requirement is no longer in place.
Guilford County government also had a vaccination rule in place for employees – one that caused some of them to quit their jobs. If an employee refused to get vaccinated, then that employee had to be tested frequently to continue coming to work.
Some of the county’s 2,500 or so employees quit their jobs due to that rule – and one longtime parks employee wrote an impassioned letter to the Board of Commissioners about her major concerns regarding the vaccine requirement.
Perhaps a more telling sign is that, when the Board of Commissioners held their annual retreat on Thursday, March 17 and Friday, March 18, COVID-19 was barely a topic of discussion. For the last two years, the pandemic, its consequences and the county’s response have been the unwavering focus of the commissioners.
This year, the board held its retreat in Bur-Mil-Clubhouse in Greensboro – the same room where it held the 2020 retreat just as the pandemic was hitting the county. At that 2020 retreat, the board and county health and emergency officials were preparing for the pandemic. When the board held the 2022 retreat last week in the clubhouse, the only remaining signs of the COVID-19 pandemic were a few very small bottles of hand sanitizers placed on the tables.
Yet people at the sheriff dept still be wearing mask. What’s that about?
I think it should be noted that not every Guilford County employee who lost their job during the COVID19 situation actually “quit”. I am interested to know who is using that term “quit”, and whether or not employees who stood their ground against the tyrannical nature of COVID19 mandates, who ended up being “fired” from the County, not “quitters”, are being included in that group said to have quit. I know for certain of at least one employee who was actually fired by Guilford County after he invoked his religious exemption from adhering to the policy, a policy designed to terrify and aggravate employees to the point that they submit to vaccination. The government or no one else shall infringe upon one’s religious freedom. Check out Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. By the way, that employee was me.
Religious exemption? What religion doesn’t support protecting personal and public health? I know a couple nutters from my church that claim religious exemptions to any vaccines for their school kids. In now way does our Christian Church doctrine mention exemption from public health policies. Just a poor excuse for ignorant people to put personal and public health at risk because some other nutter on youtube made them scared of educated health professionals.
Baaaaa! Baaaaa! You sheep just refuse to use your brain. Misplaced trust will be your demise.
Gimme a “c.” Gimme an “h.” Gimme an “r.” Gimme an “i.” Gimme a “s ” what’s that spell? Dumbass! Go team nutter!
Ultimately, it shouldn’t matter whether there’s a religious angle, or not, to someone’s objection to submitting to any vaccination requirements, or any other medical procedure. The fact that they object is all that anyone needs to know.
It’s nobody’s business if I have or have not been vaccinated, and it’s nobody’s business as to why I have or have not.
If you’re willing to submit your own body for medical experimentation, great – good for you – but it’s none of my business, and I’d appreciate it if all the pro-vaxxers would quit shoving their vaccination status, and opinions, in my face.
Go live your life, and leave me the @#$% alone to live mine.
You got railroaded twice brother! I hope you own them all once the dust settles.
Many of us submitted to the testing but had already decided that aggravation wasn’t going to sway us. At the end of the day these tyrants had to decide if they wanted staffing, or mandates. I think once they got the survey results back, they realized just how many of us were willing to walk out if necessary. My most recent workup shows I have a higher level of antibodies through natural immunity than the majority of folks who were injected with the toxic sludge cocktail. I will not submit to it today, tomorrow, next week, next month, next year, or a decade from now. chris can have mine.