As the pandemic was starting to heat up, McAllister appointed a widely representative citizen task force to give his office input into how best to proceed. He may be regretting this action as the controversy starts to heat up and members of his own task force have begun to circulate what may be counter-productive information and policy suggestions, fueling rather than mediating further conflict within the community. One of Worthley’s first assignments is to work with a team to draft a confidential policy memo sketching options for managing mask and vaccine mandates, including recommending which of the options are “best.” This background piece should be designed to move the task force forward toward consensus.

Below is a listing of the members of the county’s COVID-19 task force along with a brief sketch of how each member of the task force tends to view the pandemic. It seems as if differing members of the task force may have widely varying points of view about what is causing the pandemic, how critical it is, and overall, what are the problems that need to be solved. Members of the newly created COVID-19 Task Force seem to have different definitions of the problem. Indeed, sometimes they appear to be living in different worlds!

• Kathleen Simpson, MD and DPH, is the Commissioner of Health who sees the problem as saving lives, preventing serious illness, and preserving the effectiveness of the public health system.
• Camille Johnson is the Press Secretary for Albon County and sees the problem as communicating effectively to the public, preventing misinformation.
• Abigail Irons is a dedicated anti-vaccer who sees many problems including loss of personal freedom, overreach of government, and infringement on liberty, especially religious liberty.
• Carlos Castaneda is the President of the Albon Regional Chamber of Commerce and sees the problem as keeping businesses open and preserving a viable local economy.
• Aaron Wang is the Chair of the Albon School Board and sees the problem as keeping the schools open, avoiding as possible remote schooling, and protecting the health of all children.
• Lucile Drummond is the leader of a group of parents in the community who seek to have children free of masks in the schools.
• Karl Freelander is President of the local school’s parent association, and he sees the problem as keeping children safe in schools so that children can attend school face-to-face.
• Rev. Amy Dietrich is the elected chair of the Albon Council of churches and sees the problem as preserving the right of local churches to decide for themselves how to handle their worship services (freedom to worship as one chooses).

It appears as if McAllister’s opponent in the upcoming November elections –David DeTuya— is seeking to create a coalition out of all those in the County who oppose mask-wearing and vaccine mandates, thereby transforming what might otherwise be seen as a public health issue into a potent political issue. Mr. DeTuya and their coalition are pushing for a return to normal and urging to take a more endemic approach handling the pandemic. From their perspective, the pandemic will not end with the virus disappearing; instead, we are close enough to have immune protection from vaccination and from natural infection such that there will be less transmission and much less COVID-19-related hospitalization and death, even as the virus continues to circulate.

Ellen is looking forward to work with their team in drafting a policy memo with options for managing mask, testing and vaccine mandates, including recommending which of the options are “best,” working with the task force to reach consensus.