English writer Thomas Hardy waxed poetic about the Titanic meeting an iceberg in The Convergence of the Twain.
Two headlines in the Alexandria Echo Press and the Detroit Lakes Online (it's in Minnesota BTW), nearly moved us to poetry this morning, but we're settling for a blog post.
First, Google alerts called Karen Tolkkinen's article in the Echo Press, Otter Tail County meeting slams Walz over shutdown order, to our attention:
Personal liberty and keeping businesses afloat during the pandemic were among concerns expressed at meeting in the town of Ottertail hosted by Rep. Mary Franson, R-Alexandria, on Friday, Nov. 20.
The 7 a.m. meeting was held at Betty's Pantry on the final day restaurants can be open in Minnesota before a four-week shutdown along with bars, salons and other businesses ordered by Gov. Tim Walz. It drew about two dozen people from around Otter Tail County. Most were not wearing masks.
COVID rates have been climbing in the heavily conservative county. On Friday, there were 463 active cases in the county, with 15 total COVID deaths since March. That was up from 20 active cases on Sept. 20.
Walz and his order drew heavy criticism from the crowd.
"Speaking of the Constitution, we also have the freedom of assembly, and the government has said now you can no longer assemble with your friends, with your family," Franson said. "Well, I find it hard to believe that our local police officers are going to come to our door."
She said police are cracking down in other countries, citing a Twitter comment about police telling an Australian he couldn't walk his dog.
"We watch these other countries saying, 'How, how is it possible? We are so lucky over here. And then we see what is happening over there start creeping into our country and we're like, how did we allow this to happen? Like frogs boiling."
What can we do with that, other than to recall James Fallows' classic 2006 short essay, The boiled-frog myth: stop the lying now!.
Of course, we are dealing with Representative Mary Franson, so perhaps it's too much to ask.
The newspaper article concludes:
There was resentment about Minnesota's large cities overruling the desires of rural Minnesota and about Walmart and Amazon taking business away from local businesses. They generally agreed that the coronavirus is real, but that people are too afraid of it, and that it's not as serious as people think.
Franson said that it's time for Walz to relinquish his emergency powers.
"We all went into it willingly," to give him his first 15-day emergency powers, but did not expect it to stretch into eight months, she said.
Sen. Bill Ingebrigtsen, R-Alexandria, was originally scheduled to attend the meeting, but was unable to, Franson said.
We congratulate Senator Ingebrigtsen on his absence and hope nothing bad kept him away. Franson had shared notice of the meeting on Facebook earlier in the week and had said she'd be driving:
Ottertail is a thriving small town in Otter Tail County; its population has more than tripled since 1970.
One hopes that trend isn't reversed, whatever those smarty-pants at the New York Times print. Elsewhere in the Forum newspaper chain, Nick Broadway reports in the DL-Online article Otter Tail County makes national news as COVID-19 hotspot:
Data compiled by The New York Times says Fergus Falls, Minn., has one of the fastest rates of coronavirus spread in the United States.
The Otter Tail County seat placed second highest in the nation on Monday, Nov. 16. The ranking has lowered since then, but the area is still in the top 20 as of Wednesday, Nov. 18.
When comparing the Times report to their data, public health director Jody Lien said it appears to represent Otter Tail County as a whole. Fergus Falls by itself does not meet the 50,000 population threshold.
However, the spread has indeed gotten worse. Lien said small gatherings are mainly to blame, including in more rural areas.
CEO of Lake Region Healthcare Kent Mattson said their numbers do stick out when compared to the rest of Minnesota. He told Forum News Service that 30% of the area's overall positive tests occurred in just the last two weeks.
"We can only control so much in the hospital, but the community really controls the breadth of the spread, the rate of the spread," Mattson said. "To help us take care of them, we're just asking them to just do their part and slow it down. Let it come at us more evenly."
As of Thursday, Nov. 19, 65 of Mattson's hospital staff members were unable to work. He said if that gets between 75 and 100, they could be in trouble. He is urging the community to continue masking up and avoiding small gatherings.
"Now is really the time to change that behavior," Mattson said.
Dear reader, in case you missed it, the nuggets from each story:
The 7 a.m. meeting was held at Betty's Pantry on the final day restaurants can be open in Minnesota before a four-week shutdown along with bars, salons and other businesses ordered by Gov. Tim Walz. It drew about two dozen people from around Otter Tail County. Most were not wearing masks.( Otter Tail County meeting slams Walz over shutdown order)
As of Thursday, Nov. 19, 65 of Mattson's hospital staff members were unable to work. He said if that gets between 75 and 100, they could be in trouble. He is urging the community to continue masking up and avoiding small gatherings. (Otter Tail County makes national news as COVID-19 hotspot)
Draw your own conclusion.
Photo: From the article Otter Tail County meeting slams Walz over shutdown order: "State Rep. Mary Franson, R-Alexandria, greets those at a Nov. 20 breakfast meeting in Ottertail to discuss Democratic Gov. Tim Walz's emergency order closing restaurants and other businesses for four weeks. She soon pulled her mask over her mouth and nose. (Karen Tolkkinen / Echo Press)."
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