While the Minnesota House Health Finance & Policy Committee heard Minneapolis Sydney Jordan's bull, state representative Glenn Gruenhagen shared a personal story:
..My wife and I had COVID back in November. I was over it in about 48 hours, like a 48 hour flu, but my wife got very sick. She went to the doctor, they gave her prednisone and sent her home. Well, she took the prednisone for three or four days and it did seem to help some and once it was gone, the COVID got worse. In fact, it got to the point where she had a hard time breathing.
Yet we didn't see--they didn't want to admit her to the hospital, so she went online to some doctors who--and explained her circumstances, [doctors] who prescribed her hydroxychloroquine and cpac [?], ok? We picked it up the next day at the local drugstore. She started taking that. Three-four days later she was better. This was where she was at where she had a hard time breathing, alright?
So my question to the testifiers is, ...wouldn't it make sense to give our most vulnerable population, where we have seventy percent of the deaths, preventative medication, like hydroxychloroquine and certain vitamins that were also recommended by these doctors, there's --you can find them on the internet, there's severla medical experts that say, prevention for the most vulnerable should be done. You shouldn't wait until you get sick to the point where you have to be hospitalized.
And yet that ---it isn't just my wife, I've had--and I'm a lay person, not a doctor, okay--but I've had several of my clients in my insurance industry tell me the same thing. Little was done until they had to be hospitalized. Why don't we practice prevention? Hydroxychloroquine can be sold over the counter without a prescription in Africa for malaria. It's been around for over fifty years. So I'd like you to respond to that, one of the testifiers. .. .
Here's the video. The YouTube will scroll to the beginning of Gruenhagen's spiel:
UPDATE: Minnesota Public Radio's Tim Pugmire reports in DFLers debate mask law while GOP seeks to undo Walz's COVID-19 powers:
Rep. Glen Gruenhagen, R-Glencoe, revealed to his colleagues that he had COVID-19 last year but said he doesn't think a mask mandate is the answer.
"I think we need to emphasize prevention with people — not with masks, but with actual treatments that will help prevent them from getting the infection,” Gruenhagen said. “It seems like some of the medical community is waiting for people to get so sick before they do anything, then stick them in the hospital."
As one of our twitter follower replied to our post, mask wearing is among forms of prevention. [end update]
Here's the Session Daily story about the bill. Jonathan Mohr reports in As fight against pandemic continues, lawmakers consider making mask mandate state law:
A House committee on Tuesday heard a proposal to make wearing face coverings during the COVID-19 pandemic the law in Minnesota.
Sponsored by Rep. Sydney Jordan (DFL-Mpls), HF604 would codify the provisions of an executive order issued by Gov. Tim Walz last July that require face coverings in all indoor public settings to slow the spread of the virus.
The House Health Finance and Policy Committee held the bill over, as amended, Tuesday for possible inclusion in an omnibus bill. The companion, SF739, is sponsored by Sen. Melissa Wiklund (DFL-Bloomington) and awaits action by the Senate Health and Human Services Finance and Policy Committee.
Jordan said members who want a voice in the state’s response to the pandemic should support the bill.
“For months, I’ve heard members plead to be part of the state’s pandemic response … HF604 is a bill to serve as part of the foundation for that work that I’ve heard so many of you demand to be a part of,” she said, adding that she wants to work with her colleagues to continue to improve the legislation.
So-called “mask mandates” have been one of the pandemic’s most divisive issues around the country, with opponents arguing they infringe on personal liberties despite widespread scientific agreement they work to slow transmission of the virus.
The bill would require people to wear face coverings when:
- inside a business or in a public setting;
- waiting outside to enter a business or public setting;
- riding on public transportation, and when using some other forms of transportation;
- outdoors and it’s not possible to be socially distant from others who are not members of the same household; and
- in common areas of a multiunit dwelling.
Exemptions to the mandate would include those who have a condition or disability “that makes it unreasonable” to wear a face covering, are age 5 or younger, and people who work in a place where it would create a hazard.
The bill also includes a list of circumstances where temporary mask removal would be allowed and it permits businesses and local governments to adopt more restrictive policies to protect public health.
Individuals who willfully violate the mandate could receive a $100 fine, while businesses that violate or threaten to violate the requirements would be subject to a penalty of up to $25,000 per occurrence.
The requirement would remain in effect until the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issues a guidance for prevention of COVID-19 spread that does not include a recommendation that face coverings be worn or a determination by the Health Department that face coverings are no longer necessary.
In a presentation to the committee, Daniel Huff, Health Department assistant commissioner, told members that, since the governor’s executive order, the number of Minnesotans using face coverings rose by 39% and usage was at 77% as of January 2021.
“What we know is my mask helps protect you, it also helps protect me, and that if you and I are both wearing a mask when we’re near each other we are significantly reducing the spread of the disease,” Huff said. “The more people that wear a mask the greater the benefit.”
Four testifiers spoke in opposition to the bill, including Twila Brase, president of the Citizens Council for Health Freedom, who questioned whether masks work. She said that after the governor’s executive order was imposed, COVID-19 cases and deaths rose for the next five months and have continued to go up and down since.
“From our perspective, the mask mandate has been a social experiment infringing upon the rights of individuals to speak and breathe freely,” Brase said. “… It’s time to end this unnecessary and unproven mandate, not to codify it.”
But Dr. Beth Thielen, an infectious disease physician with M Health and one of several health care professionals to testify in support of the bill, said there is no question among health care providers in hospitals that masks work. She said masks have been used for years to prevent infections such as influenza, tuberculosis, measles and any number of other diseases.
“These are a widely accepted prevention strategy for preventing respiratory transmission,” Thielen said.
Two amendments offered by Republicans were defeated by the same 11-8 margin, with votes cast along party lines. One would have exempted youth sports from the mask requirement, while the other would have given the mandate a firm end date.
Screengrab: We don't know exactly when the Gruenhagens caught COVID in November, but Glenn wasn't wearing masks at campaign events like this one at the end of October.
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