The End of Covid Precautions in Our State

I discovered the above in a letter from our Master Gardener Coordinator saying our Land Grant University, who we operate under, is following the state in cancelling all precautions re Covid protocols. I am not happy. Below is what I wrote to the coordinator.

Dear Coordinator,

With the university’s choice, forced perhaps, of dropping all Covid precautions, I need to ask you to place me on emeritus status. I’m copying Kim on my note to you as I am supposed to coordinate the local Farmer’s Market in 2023. I am kind of horrified that the university is taking this stance in the face of 100’s of people still dying from Covid every day, much less yesterday’s newspaper article discussing the probability of returning to masking, a practice I never stopped, in the face of the trifecta of illnesses now galloping about: https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/face-masks-may-return-amid-holiday-tripledemic-of-covid-flu-and-rsv/?utm_source=marketingcloud&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=TSA_120822011931+Face+masks+may+return_12_7_2022&utm_term=Former%20Subscriber.

I refuse to work a clinic sitting next so someone who is a science denier, and doesn’t care that they could be infectious, much less refuses to accept that Covid is a thing/killer/dangerous/fill-in-the-blank while serving the public. I know, not all who are unvaccinated are in that camp, however, I find it difficult to fathom that any MG’s who couldn’t comply with the vaccine requirement, due to medical circumstances, will come running back because the university has dropped all precautions. Those folks are going to stay hunkered down. The ones who will return, those who left because they disagreed with the vaccine mandate, are the folks I can’t work with.

I have a son-in-law and multiple friends who are immunocompromised. Due to this, we don’t fly, go out to movies, live music, my husband stopped playing hockey, and only very rarely do we go out to a meal… We are protecting the people we love. Last year I felt safe at the Home Depot clinic because I knew my fellow MGs cared enough to comply with the vaccine mandate. Out clients were distanced. We were outside. To say I am disappointed by the university’s decision is a wild understatement.

Please let me know what I need to do in order to switch over to emeritus status,

Respectfully,

While on Emeritus status all you have to do is keep up with continuing education. 10-hours a year. I’m expecting push-back on this… They’re going to ask me to coordinate the farmer’s market (mostly website work), and excuse me from clinic hours. I’m willing to consider it, and it’s important to speak my truth. This is an organization where I am a youngster… Many, many people have Covid co-morbidities simply because they are old, or really old, or really, really old, rather than merely middle aged. The university did not take this into account when making such a sweeping decision. 🙄