Issues with proof of vaccination upon entry

Only vaccinated people are allowed into the Wheeler and Belly Up, because, science! Except is it actually evidenced-based?

Vaccinated people with COVID-19 have the same viral load in their nasal cavity as the unvaccinated, at least according to the actual science from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

And Aspen City Council says no negative COVID-19 test admission! We must follow the science … by only letting potentially contagious people in? Huh? You definitively prove you don’t have COVID-19 and you can’t come in? Certainly feels like an episode of the “Twilight Zone.”

The policy also ignores natural immunity, which according to every peer-reviewed study I could find, provides more durable protection than just the vaccine. If keeping the community safe was the actual goal, you’d pay attention to those with the lowest risk of spreading COVID-19.

This vaccine-only policy ignores every bit of science and is blatantly political. This policy also discriminates against people of color, who are statistically less likely to be vaccinated.

Speaking of politics, according to a recent Gallup survey, 41% of Democrats believe your chance of hospitalization from COVID-19 is greater than 50%. A total of 69% of Democrats think your chance of hospitalization is greater than 20%. Not surprising, since it’s easier to fool someone than convince them they’ve been fooled. Republicans were 2.5 times more likely to give the correct answer, which is 1% to 5%, depending on your demographics. That said, Republicans are no better at the COVID-19 knowledge game; they underestimated deaths far more than Democrats.

We have to stop letting politics drive our health policy. It’s literally tearing the community apart. Do you feel we’ve grown closer together? Or further apart? We either mean what we say about an Aspen idea or we don’t. Can you have a conversation with someone you disagree with politically? Without calling them names and insulting their intelligence?

Suicides are up. Waistlines are up. Mental health is down. People are lonely. It’s a sad existence. We need each other and absent a correction away from toxic politics, it’s going to be a long, dark, cold winter … without an end in sight.

John Jacobs

Aspen