If we lived in Marion county would definitely vote against him. Might be time to move.

I must have missed the article talking about all the rioting, looting and attacks on sheriff's deputies in Ocala. I certainly understand protecting the health and well-being of the deputies who are under siege.

It's a good thing there are no other threats in the community that might be aided by our respected law enforcement professionals wearing a mask...

If this is the reason for the "NO MASK" order from the Sheriff, then the use of face shields should be allowed, in fact, should be required.

Masks
 

Officers can’t wear masks because they need to hide their identity.

I hope no one get covid as a result of this, but if they do I hope they take him to court for everything he has, except his lack of intelligence.

Hummmm?
 

I bet he’ll be the first one in line for the vaccine

Think I'll go with Billie-Bob-Jimbo.....


He has prohibited his deputies from wearing masks while on duty. In addition he has prohibited employees who work in the sheriffs office from wearing masks.


Marion County deputies ordered not to wear masks - News - Ocala.com - Ocala, FL[/QUOTE]

I do not believe this summary. I believe actual videos with infrared cameras which DEMONSTRATE how the use of masks minimizes projection of droplets and aerosols a persons nose and mouth when they speak or breath. The demonstrations are even more effective when a person sneezes or coughs.

My girlfriend spends winters in Ocala training her horse. Her parents live four hours south of Ocala. Both are now in the hospital with Covid-19, and they seem to be going downhill. One is 91, one 85. They don’t know how they were exposed, they say, but her mom has dementia and is quite able to walk around touching things and not wearing a mask. So I’m a bit sensitive about masks these days. I believe in wearing them when around people. Gloves, too.

I read the sheriff’s directive in the newspaper. Twice. I wish he had stated a rationale, such as “I don’t believe masks help,” or “The safety of my employees and the public doesn’t matter to me,” or “I’m afraid of alienating voters if I require masks.”

I found his directive confusing. “All essential personnel (and that’s everyone)” is required to wear masks if the CDC requires it and Human Resources says to comply. Put hasn’t the CDC strongly recommended masks?

Sheriff’s personnel are FORBIDDEN to wear masks for a call to someone who is sick at home and may have Covid-19 AFTER they have been identified. What? Maybe the sheriff simply doesn’t express himself clearly in writing. (Perhaps he means deputies are to stand at a distance without masks while identifying themselves, but then put on masks and gloves before approaching? Maybe this is meant to keep from scaring people. Just a guess.) If I recall correctly, they are also forbidden to wear masks while making arrests. What?

And the public isn’t allowed into the Sheriff’s Department if they ARE wearing masks. If they want to wear masks, they can come in without a mask, request a paper where they can write their phone number, then stand outside wearing their masks until a deputy comes out to see what they want. That’s the policy! What? Are they supposed to hold their breath while standing in line in the lobby? In the post office, every customer wears a mask or becomes a social pariah. But no one who actually has the virus would come into the Sheriff’s Office? Really?

It seems to me that the sheriff has been watching too many misinformed YouTube videos. Or perhaps he knows where his bread is buttered, so to speak, and he wants to keep that butter coming. With all this “good” publicity, maybe he’s hoping for a new job in Washington in some agency. But he won’t have my vote.

Let me mention that I support strong law enforcement and favor chain gangs for looters. I believe blue lives matter. So let’s keep them alive! The sheriff seems to not care about that.

No, he should put the safety of his officers first. Good for him. This mask insanity has gone far enough. Do you wear yours to bed at night?

Wow, glad to hear that the sheriff has some common sense and doesn’t want to have all his employees looking like paranoid idiots. He realizes that none of these makeshift masks can stop a virus. Good for him. I don’t live in that county but I think I’ll call there and congratulate him for having some common sense!

I read the article all the way through. It seems sober and balanced. Some of the points about masks making it harder to breathe may be overstated, as masks aren’t always worn for long. The point about wearing dirty or wet masks makes sense. More importantly, the article cites many scholarly medical articles from sound sources. I read half a dozen of those and learned from them.

Still, when people exhale, aerosolized microbes come out. That is thoroughly documented. They can be cultured and grown. Perhaps some studies have found that these can’t pass to others, but I don’t want to exhale microbes onto others, and I don’t want them to exhale them onto me. What else are we too do? One claim in the article is that in the operating room, it’s clothes that spread contamination into wounds, rather than breath, so gowns are necessary, but not masks. Okay. But what are the implications? Should we leave our masks at home and instead walk around wearing sterile gowns so we don’t shed viruses onto others from our microbe-laden clothing, even though our breath isn’t a problem? It’s problematic.

I plan to continue wearing a mask when I’m around people, changed quite frequently, and to wear a new pair of surgical gloves when I am in a store, and to not eat in restaurants if the employees are not wearing masks and gloves. I’d really rather not catch this.

People walking into a law enforcement building without a mask present a threat also to themselves and everyone else in the building!

Except when a maskless unknowing covid positive deputy stops you for a burned out tail light and spews virus at you.