LETTER: With Ozaukee vaccination rate at only 62%, masks are critical

To Ozaukee Press:

After investigating the arguments and claims, I have concluded that the stated reason for the recall of Mequon-Thiensville School Board members—“abdication of responsibility”—is false and is a guise for anti-masking.

While I would love to live in a world where I no longer need to mask myself or my children, I simply cannot disregard public health guidance and common sense. Masks remain a critical mitigation tool to control the spread of Covid until vaccination rates increase. With vaccination rates in Ozaukee County at only 62%, the delta variant continues to circulate at a high burden level, posing a threat of critical illness, hospitalization and death to the
unvaccinated community.

I wonder how the recall organizers, and the School Board candidates they endorse, feel about vaccination? I wonder how they feel about any mitigation measure that schools might employ as an alternative to masking, such as regular testing and quarantine? I would hazard a guess that they consider all such strategies to be an infringement on their personal freedoms.         How can we make progress in our fight against the pandemic with such a rigid and individualized mindset? They seem to have lost all sense of how their individual liberties impact others.

I would like to think that our community is strong and can stand unified against a common enemy, whether it’s a dangerous global pandemic or an irrational recall effort. I am hopeful that if a recall election does occur, our community will rally together to support our incumbent school board members, who are rational individuals that understand the basic tenets of public health and volunteer their time as servant leaders to do what is best for our children.

Neda Esmaili, M.D.
Mequon