Ozarks' COVID Update

by. Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist

I visited one of the local "dollar" stores yesterday to pick up a few grocery items, and while I was there I witnessed  a young man trying to instigate an argument over the subject of face masks.  There were only about a half-a-dozen people in the entire store, and all were wearing face masks except for this one individual and his wife.  Even the store clerk was wearing a mask.   As the guy's unmasked wife stood at the register checking out, the husband positioned himself by the door and began verbally sniping at the clerk. He said, "You're going to feel really silly when this is all over and we learn that it was just a hoax!"  The guy's wife looked up and said , "What did you say?"   He replied, "I wasn't talking to you.   I was talking to him (the clerk), and he's not going to answer me."  

The clerk ignored him - and so did the rest of us - and the disgusted shopper left the building, no doubt unhappy that he had failed to stir some controversy with his out-sized wit. 

"Hoax" is a Trump word.

School started this past Monday throughout most of Howell County where I live.  One independent elementary school located nearby switched to an all-virtual approach at the very last minute and will reconsider returning to their campus in two weeks, but all of the other schools are at least offering an on-site option so that parents can return to their jobs and have a place to leave their kids. 

Another local school district, that of Alton, Missouri, held classes at school on Monday, and then switched to all-virtual the following day after it was learned that a staff member had tested positive for COVID-19.  The district may resume on-campus classes in two weeks, after the Labor Day holiday.

Howell County has had a total of 210 confirmed cases of COVID-19 since the pandemic got rolling in March - and 14 of those (over 6% of the total) were reported on Monday and Tuesday of this week - after the school year began.

This past week the local city council of West Plains, Missouri, met and discussed a proposed mandatory mask ordinance that two members of the council (one of whom is a doctor) had drafted and submitted.  My primary care physician, an exceptionally bright individual, showed up at the meeting and was the only local person to speak in favor of the ordinance - which failed on a vote of three to two.  The council punted and said they felt an anti-mask ordinance should  be initiated by the local health department rather than by a political body like the city council.  The local health department is under the auspices of the state - which is under the control of a Republican administration - which does not believe in science.

So, for the time being, face masks are optional and people who wear them may be ridiculed for promoting a hoax, and most of the school buses are rolling - but a few renegade germs could drastically change everything, whether people believe sin science or not!