Will Montana’s New Health Bill Prevent Shut-Downs? [Opinion]

Our Governor has signed a bill that will limit the authority of county health directors from using his or her discretion on which businesses to close. The new law allows locally elected officials to change or rescind health mandates.

These mandates caused thousands of mom-and-pop businesses to lose everything they worked for. One person was able to decide what was essential and what was not. Restaurants and bars were forced to close while other businesses were deemed essential. If you went to Walmart for instance, they were open. I understand needing groceries, but why was their video or electronic section open? What about sporting good stores etc, how was that deemed necessary? None of these businesses should have been closed.

The responsibility to monitor health should have been put on the customer and not the franchise. So many people around the country lost their livelihood because of these decisions. Now the school district is deciding whether masks will be required next year or not, according to an article in the Billings Gazette. I'll be surprised if mandatory vaccines for kids is not somewhere in the future. Will school districts require their employees to get vaccinated like those in health care?

I think COVID will remain until everyone eventually gets it, and we don't know how long that will take. The vaccine will not prevent you from getting it but will lessen the symptoms and it's still too early to tell its long-term effectiveness. Now they are talking booster shots may be necessary. I'm not a doctor, but I do know the lasting effects of losing your business and livelihood will be felt by thousands with no chance of recovery from that either. It's sad. At least this is a step in the right direction to help protect citizens from that happening again. See ya tomorrow at 5.