The Johnson County Community Health Services Board of Trustees held a public meeting today at 2:00 p.m. at their offices in Warrensburg. The agenda included a discussion of a health advisory based on recently released CDC guidelines and the rising number of cases in the county.

A somewhat organized anti-mask group, numbering around thirty individuals, attended the meeting. Several took the opportunity to offer public comment.

Johnson County Community Health Services – Board of Trustees – August 2, 2021 – Opening

The board allocates thirty minutes at the beginning of their meetings for public comment. Just go ahead and listen:

Johnson County Community Health Services – Board of Trustees – August 2, 2021 – Public Comment

“…I’m gonna state straight out, there’s no, nobody got a right to tell me to put a mask on. Nobody. Or anybody else. You just don’t have the right…. I do not accept the premise that any of these vaccines work. I do not accept the premise that the masks work. I do not accept it…”

Meanwhile, in Johnson County, Missouri (July 12, 2021)

Johnson County Community Health Services – Board of Trustees – August 2, 2021 – Meeting

I spent about ninety minutes at the meeting in a closed room with several unmasked members of the board and the approximately thirty or so anti-maskers (and, some, by their comments, anti-vaccine). I wore an N95 mask with a good seal, covered by a cloth mask. I don’t know what upset me more – that I was, in all probability, at risk for exposure to COVID-19 or that my IQ probably dropped forty points after listening to their tiresome luddite anti-science drivel.