Given that my aunt in Forsyth died of COVID yesterday and literally only about 2% of Miles City masks and only 39% have the vaccine, I'm wondering what the PLAN is. You know - all the COVID deniers, law makers and politicians who are raging against masks and vaccines - WHAT'S YOUR PLAN, specifically? Do you all plan to let as many people get sick, become long-haulers, and/or die as it takes to achieve "herd immunity," which will very quickly disappear with each viral mutation, putting ya'll back at square one, and then let more people get sick, become long-haulers or 6 feet under and so on and so forth with each mutation until the end of time? Or, are you only planning on carrying out the above for 2 - 4 years until you "trust" the vaccine and hope you are still alive to take it then? Is that the plan? Or, is there another plan, because I have yet to hear any anti-mask/anti-vax, GOP politician or lawmaker articulate the plan. Help me out here. Someone let me in on "the plan" for effectively dealing with COVID aside from masking up until everyone is vaccinated. Thanks. I can't wait to read this.

My condolences for the loss of your aunt. You're not the only one who has lost family or friends to Covid. I'm afraid I can't enlighten you with regard to "the plan" because I am not one of the category you've specified. All I can do is to extend my sympathy and assure you that you are not alone with your concerns.

The plan? The Gianforte pandemic plan for Montana seems to be the same as the Abbott plan in Texas and the Deathsantis plan in Florida. Let people die to score points with political supporters while completely ignoring reality and science.

Condolences on the loss of your aunt. You are not alone in your frustration.

The only positive take I get from this current situation is at least Trump voters are dying and thus removing themselves from the electorate.

The following is from the Montana Free Press. Does it surprise anyone?

HELENA — In an internal letter delivered last month, scientific staff at the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services criticized the evidence used by health department Director Adam Meier and Gov. Greg Gianforte to justify an August emergency rule discouraging school mask mandates, saying some claims made by the rule were “misleading and false.”

The Sept. 17 letter was sent to Meier via email by Senior Epidemiologist Lisa Richidt and was co-signed by 17 additional staff epidemiologists. Their letter said the rule misrepresented the scientific literature by asserting that masks haven’t been proven effective at preventing the spread of COVID-19 and that prolonged mask wearing can harm children.

The result, the scientists said, is a rule that undermines the health department’s credibility, “contributes to the spread of misinformation,” makes it harder for local public health officials to keep their communities safe and fosters divisiveness as school officials determine whether mask mandates are appropriate for their facilities.

The emergency rule has previously been criticized by the Montana Nurses Association, which said it “promotes junk science” in a Sept. 8 memo. The letter from the epidemiologists, however, is the first public indication that discomfort about the evidence used to justify the rule extends into ranks of the state’s staff scientists.

The letter, which Montana Free Press had sought via an unfulfilled public records request, was provided to MTFP this week by an anonymous source. One of its signatories independently verified that the document in MTFP’s possession is the document they signed.

Gianforte spokesman Travis Hall declined to comment on the epidemiologists’ letter Tuesday, referring an inquiry to the health department.

Not surprised at all. You get the government you elect.

I wonder how many people have watched their family members and friends go through the hospitalization and death from Covid. It ain't pretty.

I agree, but no worries, the virus can vaccinate you the hard NATURAL way. Then you can skip the other free vaccine.

I just want to share that there are three excellent books about infectious diseases that would help people to understand how very serious all of this is. "Spillover" by David Quammen of Bozeman, MT, "The Coming Plague", a warning by Laurie Garrett written in 1999 and "Deadliest Enemy" by Michael Osterholm. After reading those I was lucky to learn about a book, "The Code Breaker" by Walter Isaacson, where you can learn about the discovery of CRISPR which gave us the genetic sequencing and enabled the discovery of the vaccine . Years of work coming to fruition by technology. We are so lucky. Sadly it came too late for our Son in Law and my cousin's Son as well as so many others. We are old so stay pretty sheltered and still follow the 5 simple rules along with the vaccinations and want to thank those who are so caring about their friends and family that they are being vaccinated. We are losing some very wonderful people in our communities and it really doesn't have to happen. "FIRE- Infectious Disease, FUEL - Climate Change"....Michael Osterholm, Epidemiologist. My condolences to those of you who have suffered losses. It is very hard.

And they say its the far right that's the hate fueled extremists.....

I agree. The Far Right are hate-fueled extremists.

Last time I checked, the right, moderates, liberals, progressives, etc, haven't overrun the Capitol and tried to install a Far-Right wing dictatorship.

Interesting to see why you think as you do, but I don't think that any future posts will be coming from you, as all far right dingbats here ever seem to do is bring up lies that that they read or heard on far right media. Like how the 2020 election was stolen.

I have little interest in trying to engage in a civil debate with brain-washed morons.

I just think it is good for people to realize that it is Global Warming connected with Infectious Diseases that rule right now. We do have a chance to work toward making the future better for our kids and we simply have to do it. To quibble is redundant. I don't like calling anyone names, I just think that so many really are not understanding how important it is to work toward bettering things for all. Helping to save lives is so decent.