Zero. That’s the number of cases of COVID spread at The Bayou so far during this entire pandemic. Zero. Yes, we have had staff contract COVID, but not a single one of those cases spread among our staff or customers. Even more importantly, we haven’t had a single serious case at all.
How have we been able to accomplish this? Simple. We didn’t reopen our dine-in until our staff and customers could be fully vaccinated and then we required everyone in the building to be fully vaccinated. Guess what. It turns out that vaccines work very well in slowing the spread of disease and preventing serious illness. Who knew? (Except for us and every health expert out there.)
Now however, Rep. Jon Hawkins, R-Pleasant Grove, who himself nearly died from COVID, saying “This is real,” wants to help other Utahns learn that COVID is “real” in the only way that he knows how: by helping them become deadly ill as well.
The easiest way to help ensure this outcome is to reduce vaccination rates, of course. The best way to do that is to coddle the unvaccinated and help them avoid any consequences of their actions, until of course they hopefully learn COVID is “real” by nearly dying themselves, I guess.
Hawkins is working to encourage this “learning experience” for his beloved anti-vaxxers with his proposed House Bill 63. It would allow those who could prove they had already been infected with COVID to be exempt from any vaccine requirements. Hawkins has perfectly timed his bill for mass impact during our current omicron wave, which is showing little protection from prior infections. While the health experts are pushing people to get booster shots, Hawkins is helping them have a second chance to learn about COVID like he did, in the ICU.
Meanwhile, Rep. Walt Brooks has put forward House Bill 60, which would make anti-vaxxers a protected class, so they would be immune from “discrimination,” if not from COVID. His bill would be the first time that Utah has designated an infectious group of people a “protected class.”
Typhoid Mary is rolling in her grave wondering where this savior was when she needed him.
We know that The Bayou is unlikely to be able to keep our winning streak against COVID going forever. With the omicron variant here that is simply going to be impossible. That doesn’t mean, however, that we should be forced to increase our risks of exposure. Help us keep The Bayou as safe a dining and drinking experience as we can and call Gov. Spencer Cox and your representative and senator and remind them that “this is real.”
Mark Alston is the owner of The Bayou restaurant, Salt Lake City
from The Salt Lake Tribune https://ift.tt/3mUouMw
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