Glens Falls Chronicle Serving the Glens Falls/Lake George region; Warren, Washington and northern Saratoga counties since 1980
By Cathy DeDe, Chronicle Managing Editor
While Saratoga and Washington Counties criticized Gov. Kathy Hochul’s new mask-or-vaccination mandate in public settings, Warren County Public Health Director Ginelle Jones acknowledged it is unlikely the county will enforce the mandate but she hopes “people will comply without us needing to.”
Ms. Jones told The Chronicle, “I absolutely support” the Governor’s mandate. “I think it’s long overdue, especially through the holiday season.
“This is different than in the past,” Ms. Jones said, “with an end date in mind of January 15, when we can reassess.
“It gives the businesses and everybody reassurance: We are not just going to do this and forget it. It’s important to do now and get through to past the holiday.”
As to enforcement? Ms. Jones says, “It should fall on everybody to enforce, to take the take the responsibility to wear the mask. Business owners should be enforcing patrons to wear a mask.
“If there are sticky situations, if people make calls, we will follow up as best we can, but I’m hoping we don’t need to be an enforcer.
“It’s such a finite time. One month to keep people safe is not much to ask.”
“The majority of people in my Health Department are nurses, college or recently graduated, in education or outreach. We don’t really have enforcement. We will not be going in and checking. We are looking at this as encouraging or educating people, not as a punitive thing.”
Ms. Jones also said, “I think we should send a shout-out to the state for reopening the site at Aviation Mall to do testing and vaccinations.
Do masks work? “I think they do” Ms. Jones said. “Anecdotally, we know the whole county and the nation saw significant decrease in flu cases when masks were warn throughout the winter. Anecdotally, we could transition that to Covid, though with Covid we don’t know what the norm is.”
Does Ms. Jones favor a Covid vaccination mandate? “I think people have their choices and reasons about vaccination. I would like to see everybody talking to their provider about their choices, especially for those who are vaccination hesitant. People don’t like to be told what to do, but I hope they will reach out to their providers.”
How long will Covid last? “Typically, a pandemic would go for about two years,” Ms. Jones replied. “In Warren County, that would be about March [2022]. I’m interested to see what the new (Omicron) variant brings. What we are seeing is it is more transferable, less virulent.
“At some point, there has to be an off track. By May or June I think things will look different, I’m hoping much sooner.
“As all age groups are able to get the vaccine, and we build a little herd immunity, a weakened virus that is not a virulent. I don’t mean to let our guard down, but hopefully we won’t have the death rates.”
Ms. Jones notes, “In the last week we had five Covid deaths. Sitting where we are, that’s just awful, and it’s young people too, a 24-year old, a 46-year old was in the ICU, unvaccinated. Young and healthy can get it too.”
She offers what she called “Ginelle Jones’ Christmas wish list”:
“Everyone vaxxed, the sick stay home, wear masks, work with public health, get booster shots, people should work together. It takes a community.
“In general,” she said, “people are Covid tired. The health agencies, doctor offices are very much in Covid response mode, the same as on March 7, 2020.”
Ms. Jones urges, “Everybody has a part in this. Patrons could choose not to go to places that are not following the mandate. Businesses could refuse to serve people not following.”
Copyright © 2021 Lone Oak Publishing Co., Inc. All Rights Reserved
