Public health workers fighting COVID-19 are threatened, forced out of jobs

[TomCADem]

This discussion thread was locked as off-topic by JudyM (a host of the Latest Breaking News forum).

Source: MSN

As the director of the Rio Grande County Public Health Department in rural Colorado, she was working 12- and 14-hour days, struggling to respond to the pandemic with only five full-time employees for more than 11,000 residents. Case counts were rising.

She was already at odds with county commissioners, who were pushing to loosen public health restrictions in late May, against her advice. She had previously clashed with them over data releases and control and had haggled over a variance regarding reopening businesses.

But she reasoned that standing up for public health principles was worth it, even if she risked losing the job that allowed her to live close to her hometown and help her parents with their farm.

Then came the Facebook post: a photo of her and other health officials with comments about their weight and references to “armed citizens” and “bodies swinging from trees.” The commissioners had asked her to meet with them the next day. She intended to ask them for more support. Instead, she was fired.

Read more: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/public-health-workers-fighting-covid-19-are-threatened-forced-out-of-jobs/ar-BB15oHFS?ocid=msedgntp

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Section 802 of the USA PATRIOT Act (Pub. L. No. 107-52) expanded the definition of terrorism to cover ""domestic,"" as opposed to international, terrorism. A person engages in domestic terrorism if they do an act "dangerous to human life" that is a violation of the criminal laws of a state or the United States, if the act appears to be intended to: (i) intimidate or coerce a civilian population; (ii) influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion; or (iii) to affect the conduct of a government by mass destruction, assassination or kidnapping.

[SWBTATTReg]

1. Isn't it amazing? We seem to have these death panels all over the Country now, with those...

solely interested in businesses staying open, profits at all costs, etc., deciding life and death matters.

Something is wrong here. The only comfort (if you want to call it that sadly) is that she'll be proven right, that restrictive health measures were needed to protect the public's health and safely and the death panel/county commissioners and the like overruled her.

[Miguelito Loveless]

2. As I have mentioned in ealier posts on this topic

If Dr. Jonas Salk were working on polio today, he would be subject to harassment, death threats, and official abuse. Childern in iron lungs would be dismissed as "crisis actors".

[SWBTATTReg]

3. I laughed (but sadly), you are absolutely right. I was growing up during the polio scare, have ...

several of my family members afflicted w/ polio (thus hampered their ability to walk, but walk they do, and proudly).

[TomCADem]

8. A 75 Year Old Man and other peaceful protesters are being called ...

...terrorists and yet you have reopeners making actual death threats against health workers in an effort intimidate a change in policy, and the President pours gas on the whole scene by painting efforts to protect the public health as some conspiracy to harm him.

[SWBTATTReg]

9. Yes. It's pathetic. And it's going to kill people if they fall for his stupid ranting and raving

about reopening up the economy. Many states already are reporting some serious increases in CV cases, tied to when they reopened.

Karma, sadly, is going to pay them back in full, for falling for such illogical and ill advised efforts to reopen when the CV was still raging in full across the board, and CV doesn't play favorites. It sadly goes to show you that the republicans obviously think that most workers are not in fact, truly essential but instead, expendable. Gross.

[world wide wally]

4. Fucking pigs...

every one of them

[generalbetrayus]

5. The Rio Grande County economy, like most of the counties in sparsely populated SW Colorado,

is heavily dependent on the tourism industry. South Fork, at the western end of Rio Grande County, is heavily dependent economically on the Wolf Creek Ski Area in adjacent Mineral County. I'm sure the Rio Grande County Tourism Board https://www.colorado.com/association/rio-grande-county-tourism-board has put great pressure on the county commissioners to "open up" the county for business.

And tourists pouring into the county for summer recreation in the surrounding National Forest lands will undoubtedly reintroduce the coronavirus into the county.

[Buckeye_Democrat]

6. Makes me wonder if the commissioners were...

... behind the threats.

[generalbetrayus]

7. All three county commissioners

are Republican.

[McCamy Taylor]

10. And so the fascists win in Colorado.

[JudyM]

11. Locking

Alerted on for being a feature piece/analysis, and the forum hosts agree. Please repost in GD or E&OA instead, thanks.
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