The Guilford County Board of Health has announced that it will hold a meeting on Thursday, Feb.17 to hear an update from county health officials and decide whether to keep the current mask mandate in effect or get rid of it.
Though COVID-Positivity test numbers remain high in Guilford County, mask mandates have been dropping in other places across the country.
However, those who want the mandate gone in Guilford County should not get too excited about the meeting that’s just been called.
The Board of Health meeting on Feb. 17 will take place as a meeting within a previously scheduled Board of Commissioners meeting. The two bodies are the same body in Guilford County. About eight years ago, the Guilford County Board of Commissioners exercised an option offered by state law that let the commissioners get rid of the county’s Board of Health and take over those duties.
Chairman of the Board of Commissioners Skip Alston told the Rhino Times earlier this week that he would take the advice of the medical and health professionals in the county – whatever that may be at the time.
In the past, the county’s health officials and some local medical professionals have favored masking in cases when the COVID-19 test positivity rates have been over 5 percent. Recently those positivity rates have been over 20 percent.
According to the announcement of the meeting sent out by the county, the health board meeting is being held for the purpose of “reviewing public health metrics as it relates to COVID-19 in order to evaluate the following options: 1) to repeal the Board of Health rule related to the reinstatement of mask mandates implemented on January 13, 2022; 2) Hold Board of Health Rule as written to expire on February 27, 2022; or 3) Amend Board of Health Rule to extend expiration until the Board’s next regularly scheduled meeting on March 3, 2022.”
The discussion and debate – likely along party lines, with the Republican commissioners wanting the mandate rescinded and the board’s Democratic majority being much less inclined to do so – will take place on February 17 during the commissioners meeting that begins at 5:30 p.m.
Anyone can watch the meeting by using Zoom on a computer, tablet or smartphone and visiting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82450144791, registering and selecting the option to join from a confirmation email.
Those interested can also view the live stream from Guilford County’s Facebook page or from the Guilford County Meetings and Minutes website at https://guilford.legistar.com/Calendar.aspx.
Another option is to watch the live broadcast of the meeting aired through Greensboro Television Network, which is available on Spectrum channel 13, North State channel 31 and AT&T U-verse channel 99.
There’s also an option to listen to the meeting by phone. The county’s Clerk to the Board’s office can offer guidance on using that method.
When Carolina and Duke played the other night almost every fan was masked up..Watched the KY- Bama game right afterwards and hardly a mask to be seen..According to the CDC, the two states are about the same for Covid.
NC will be one of the last states to drop the masks..
What you saw at the UNC-Duke game is the mask mandate issued by the university. I believe the town of Chapel Hill has something like a 95% vax rate and they’ve never rescinded their mask mandates in Orange County. God I could never live there. No amount of $$ would do it for me.
The County Health Board, er County Commission would do well to follow the groundswell of support for rescinding mad mask mandates in States such as Delaware, The current Presidents home state There is more evidence every day that masks are ineffective and Covid Omicron is winding down.
Admittedly those states Governors are very political and realize without eliminating mandates they may be eliminated from office next election. Skin and his minions have a cushion of almost three years before their held accountable so they may continue to exercise control over the same individuals that pay their salary. Let’s go Brandon!
I know I am wasting my breath on this because these people are so high on their perceived importance they cannot hear we the people. Look cloth masks, which most everyone is wearing does absolutely nothing to halt anything but spitting on the grass. There have been 5 more states, guess which color (hint:one is NJ) have dropped the mask mandate. NC doesn’t have a mask mandate. Forsyth county does not have a mask mandate. Can y’all hear us yet? And the sanctimonious school board persons are beyond help. The staggering medical evidence against masks on children is enormous but still these persons are sitting on their hands. I am through, my mask is put aside. Do the right thing and don’t demand anymore that people follow your scare tactics. Give it up, you have no power, you tried to hard, we see the truth.
Bon chance. Stop this mask mandate, and they will come up with another emergency. Perhaps the emergency of more people moving towards poverty. Cost of living, buying food, buying a home, etc.; the detructsion of the middle class.
This mask mandate is ridiculous. Last I checked this was a free country. There is not an emergency nor science that warrants this overreach from a board that does not respond to any emails written to them. You all obviously don’t care and enjoy being dictators of our lives. Stop this nonsense and let people exercise their own constitutional rights to wear or not wear a mask.
It is ridiculous. However, I disagree about ours being a free country. For some time, we have not had a representative government. Freedom of speech, assembly, 2nd amendment, etc. are mitigated, and constantly under attack.
Try getting a concealed carry permit in NY, Chicago, SF, etc. The criminals have them, and our citizens don’t. See what is happening in Australia (now Canada). 20+ years ago, Aussie citizens lost their right of self-defense. Censorship & freedom of assembly, even freedom of movement, is disrupted by armed police. Now Australia is more autocratic by the day.
This continued mandate drama is asinine. Of course positivity rates are up. People are fed up and only test when they have symptoms unless they’re stupid. By the way, your tax dollars are still paying to test county employees weekly despite that requirement being deemed unconstitutional. I wouldn’t test again even if I had symptoms. Aready had the virus myself. At this point people should treat the symptoms and go about their lives.
I am sure the Guilford overlords will keep their token mandate in place. With the exception of a few woke holes in the wall downtown I don’t think any businesses was is actually listing. We must continue to resist and not do business with any establishment that tries to impose this nonsense.
Even NEW YORK is ending their mask mandate!!! Good thing we have Dr. Melvin Alston, M.D. looking out for our safety!!! And all his little Democrat minions to follow him like the sheep they are!!
According to the Epoch Times the numbers in North Carolina are this 2,498,957 CASES total over 2 years and 21,325 deaths and they get their data from CDC, WHO, state officials, and John Hopkins. Now that is a 0.0085 percent death rate and a 99.9915 percent recovery rate. When will all this insanity end? There are some who say well unless you lost someone it’s easy for you to say. But here’s the thing, people are more likely to die from car crashes, violent crimes, cancer, heart disease, etc. than this virus. It’s time to get back to life as it was before and quit scaring the dickens out of easy to persuade people. This is not about health and science, this is purely political science! Stand up for your right to breathe freely and tell the power hungry officials in NC that we are tired of this! Let the people who are afraid to live do what makes them happy and protect themselves with the next 3 or more booster shots and mask up indefinitely. As for the rest of us, stop the insanity. We deserve the right to be free too and I mean to be free from ignorance and silly mandates.
I am all for ending the mandates. No really follows them now anyway. I will wear a mask while at a concert at the coliseum this weekend but not to quickly run into the dollar general in town. Looks like this is finally winding down baring another crazy variant like Delta (Omicron had more bark than bite it looks like now).
Why, is Neil Young in town this weekend?
Just a reminder for those of you who never leave Greensboro. The rest of the country dropped the mask game long ago or never subscribed to it in the first place.
Yep,
In Randolph County we’ve not seen hardly anyone in a mask ever. There’s only an occasional sighting of a liberal loon or some old folks wearing one. Oddly enough, we’ve been no sicker than anyplace else. I wonder why that is, you know, with the science & all. The liberal turds of Greensboro will be their own undoing eventually.
Will be interesting to see how long Dr. Alston holds on to this with the rest of the country dropping mandates, even in schools. He can’t just arbitrarily drop it as that would be admitting it was wrong in the first place.
I’m sitting at home with Covid right now & don’t regret at abiding by the mask mandates here. I where it at work, because I would get fired, but guess what? I still got the virus. It’s time for all of us to rebel against the mandates! What are they going to do? Throw us all in jail?