Health department board to consider proposal to limit pandemic responses
GAYLORD — The board of health for the Health Department of Northwest Michigan is scheduled to consider a resolution that could affect the department's responses to health emergencies like COVID-19.
At the April 4 meeting in Charlevoix, the eight board members who are county commissioners from the health department's jurisdiction of Antrim, Charlevoix, Emmet and Otsego counties, are scheduled to review a resolution upholding medical freedom in light of the recent COVID-19 countermeasure experience authored by Rich Ginop, chairman of the Emmet County Board of Commissioners.
The resolution states that all state or local governmental emergency measures affecting, or emanating from the health department regarding a pandemic or epidemic, shall expire after 28 days and only a three-fourths vote of the full board of health can authorize continued implementation of such measures, and then only on a month-by-month basis.
The resolution also states that the health department shall not impose, permit or enforce Covid vaccine mandates, the mandated masking or testing of asymptomatic persons.
When asked if the 28-day expiration for health measures can be legally applied to mandates from the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) or the federal government, Ginop said "I am not sure."
"Courts have consistently upheld MDHHS’s ongoing authority under the public health code. MDHHS will continue to use its powers under the Public Health Code to protect the lives of the people of Michigan," said Chelsea Wuth, a spokeswoman with MDHHS when asked to respond to the resolution.
Matthew Cross of the Plunkett Cooney law firm, who serves as legal advisor for the board of health, declined to comment.
"I have not had an opportunity to look over the resolution since receiving it last week and likely won’t have an opportunity to do so until closer to the meeting," Cross said in an email on March 27.
Last December, the state court of appeals ruled that the Ottawa County Health Officer acted legally and appropriately when she issued a pre-K-6 mask mandate during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
"I am sick and tired of the so-called authorities lying to us and not revealing the truth about vaccine damages, deaths and injuries that are happening," Ginop responded when asked what motivated him to draft the resolution.
According to a 2022 report from Johns Hopkins Medicine titled "Is the COVID-19 vaccine safe?," authors Lisa Maragakis and Gabor David Kelen, both MDs, said the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines authorized by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, "are very safe and very good at preventing serious or fatal cases of COVID-19. The risk of serious side effects associated with these vaccines is very small."
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Ginop believes he has the votes on the board to gain approval of the resolution. He bristled when asked if he was over reaching.
"They over reached (and) they are shoving it down our throats. They are spending tax dollars in the mainstream media that (the vaccine) is good for you and it's effective. There is more evidence against it then there is for it," he said.
In addition to Ginop, other board members include Jarris Rubingh and Dawn LaVanway of Antrim County, Josh Chamberlain and Scott Hankins of Charlevoix County, Don Mapes from Emmet County and Henry Mason and Jonathan Turnbull of Otsego County.
— Contact Paul Welitzkin at pwelitzkin@gaylordheraldtimes.com.
This article originally appeared on The Petoskey News-Review: Health department board to consider proposal to limit pandemic responses
