SHERIFF: Protect the vulnerable

Sheriff Norris’s letter to Kootenai County residents deeply miscalculates the pandemic’s impact on vulnerable families. The letter makes egregious claims to protect people’s freedom to be in public spaces mask-less, while simultaneously acknowledging that certain risk groups should take extra precautions. What exactly should those at risk do, Sheriff Norris?

For the past 10 months we have isolated at home, denied visits from family and friends, felt guilt returning to work for potentially exposing a loved one to the virus, and struggled to remain mentally buoyant while caring for ill family members.

Over and over again elected officials have encouraged people susceptible to severe illness from COVID-19 to self-isolate. But what you, the commissioners and the governor fail to understand is that the vulnerable do not live in a bubble. We cannot segregate the immunocompromised or the elderly from the world. Just as it is impossible to isolate their caregivers from the vibrant, messy reality of living in community.

The sheriff office’s mission is to protect and serve the residents of Kootenai County, all residents, not just those who will have “flu-like symptoms and recover.” It sounds to me, Sheriff Norris, as though you have taken it upon yourself to issue standards of care for our community, supporting the perceived well-being of the healthy while devastating those already struggling with health concerns. This is not leadership. This is cowardice. How many more people will die before you understand that we are all connected?

JENNIFER PASSARO

Coeur d’Alene