Local tire business circumvents public health mask law

Commercial Tire Service

Note: We recently updated AnneLandmanBlog.com to be easier to read, by having the site occupy the full width of the page, using a larger size font and colors that are easier on the eyes, while retaining the ability to search for past articles in the archives by using the “Search” box to the right, or by clicking on the categories above. We hope readers like the new look! 

Commercial Tire Service at 725 23 1/2 Road has found a way to circumvent the Colorado’s recent public health order mandating everyone wear a face mask in indoor spaces to help stop the spread of the deadly Corona virus: They tacitly suggest with a sign at the entrance that everyone entering the business can simply claim they have an undisclosed medical reason why they can’t wear a mask.

Commercial Tire Service has a sign in their front window that says:

ATTENTION CUSTOMERS

Those in our state government have ordered all persons entering indoor facilities to wear a mask. If you have a medical condition that prevents you from wearing a mask, you are exempt from the orders. Due to HIPAA and the 4th Amendment we cannot legally ask you about your medical condition. Therefore, if we see you without a mask, we will assume you have a medical condition. We welcome you inside to support our business.

COVID-19 can be spread asymptomatically, and people who have the virus can be pre-symptomatic for up to 5 days, so you can have the virus for five days before you even know you are sick, and doing business as usual during that time exposes everyone you come in contact with to it.

Compliance with face mask wearing can bring the pandemic under control

Sign in the front window at Commercial Tire Services. (Photo: Jake Beckner, Facebook)

A recent study in the United Kingdom found that “facemask use by the public could make a major contribution to reducing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic,” and that “when facemasks are used by the public all the time (not just from when symptoms first appear),” it can make the pandemic far less severe. The same study found that 100% compliance with mask use leads to “vastly less disease spread.”

Another study from China concluded that the key to controlling the pandemic is face mask use.

Suggesting you should not wear a mask due to a medical condition is misleading. Doctors say there are very few conditions if any that would preclude mask-wearing, and mask-wearing does NOT decrease the level of oxygen in your body. For a few people with certain types of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), carbon dioxide retention could be an issue, but people with that specific type of illness are far better off minimizing their forays into the public and potentially exposing themselves to COVID-19.

Some doctors say there are no medical conditions that preclude wearing a mask, and that people who actually have lung problems are far safer wearing a mask than not wearing one, since having lung problems greatly increases the likelihood that if you get COVID-19, you will die from it.

Businesses like this keep the economy from rebounding

Commercial Tire Service may think they’re being clever, but we are unlikely to get back to anything even close to normal life in the United States without massive compliance with mask-wearing throughout the country. There is currently no prevention, cure or treatment for COVID-19. It spreads like wildfire and so far more than 140,000 Americans — 47 times the number killed in the 9/11 attacks — have died from COVID-19.

Normal life will only come back when the virus is contained, and with businesses like Commercial Tire Service helping keep our country in a state of rampant spread of the virus, normalcy is unlikely to return to the Grand Valley, or anywhere in the U.S., for a long, long time.

 

  13 comments for “Local tire business circumvents public health mask law

  1. I will not support any business that doesn’t require a mask. I’ve ever gone to commercial tire and now will never go. Even if they’re the only tire place in town.

    I work in healthcare. We’ve been wearing masks for viruses, respiratory infections, and a million things for decades and decades. Masks work. It is the rare medical condition that won’t let you wear a mask. I have noticed that the people who don’t wear them seem to be the people that most likely could get it. They’re usually overweight, older, and I would bet on so many of them that they smoke.

    If you’re not going to wear a mask sign a waiver so I don’t have to treat you. Of course I’m probably preaching to the choir on this blog. So no offense to you mask wearers.

  2. And that brings up the question of how is this being enforced? What are the penalties? It needs some teeth!

      • I did that early on. I did it on a Saturday because of Cabelas. I got a recording that said call back during business hours.

  3. Well said and thanks, Anne.

    Interesting arguments posted by Commercial Tire Service. If this mandate is to have any teeth, the County should go ahead and revoke their business license for non-compliance.
    Perhaps the legal theory will hold up in an appeal to reinstate their license.

  4. Endangering their own staff and customers to what end? And is politicizing your own business ever worth it? Customers will now ponder if the business that cheats the public health order and makes bad decisions will make the right decision when it comes to serving a customer.

  5. I also failed to mention that I was in the Denver International Airport yesterday where at least half of the people were not wearing masks or failing to cover their nose. And there are signs everywhere. I was surprised at the number of people who got off planes with no masks.

  6. Last weekend Cabelas was not enforcing the mandate either. The older man at the front of the store said there were just too many exceptions to do it. I contend you tell them to go back to their car and order online and have it delivered to their car. I called the reporting number and got a message telling me to call back during regular business hours. Is that the only time you have to wear a mask?

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *