By Sarah Tuttle
Pittsboro, NC – Ms. Del Turner, I attended the school board meeting Monday night along with other parents who are advocating for our kids to have the right to breathe freely again at school. I have only attended a few of these meetings and have never spoken at one. I am a little scared to speak, especially after hearing the way parent comments are completely dismissed and gaslighted.
I was extremely disappointed Monday night to hear the way you spoke about the people in this community in such an arrogant and degrading way. So many of your comments were so out of touch and sounded like rhetoric that was being preached by many in the media a year ago. Science has changed, the virus is continuing to weaken, and we have so much more information now. I believe you are not properly fulfilling this elected position if you are not properly researching this subject. Especially when you are making decisions that affect so many kids in this county! I get the feeling that you do not really care for our kids, but are more concerned about unwavering from what you have been preaching from behind your mask and position of power.
I would like to point out that you disproved many of your own talking points that you were trying to make Monday night.
1st point. You say that masks do work. However you admitted that you went to an event where many were unmasked and you caught Covid and got very sick. I am assuming that since you are such a firm believer in masks that you were wearing one at this event and you still caught Covid! If masks work, why the spike in Covid cases in our schools when all of the kids have been wearing masks? I would also like to point out that over 70,000 people attended the Superbowl Sunday night UNMASKED! In a state where they have had mask mandates for almost two years and some of the highest numbers of reported Covid cases. Has there been a Covid outbreak from Sunday’s event? I have yet to hear of one, I suppose it still might come. But the bigger point I am trying to make is, why were all of those people unmasked? Because, they are not afraid of Covid anymore. It is a treatable virus, people are not dying from it and most of those people who attended the Superbowl have already had it and have some resistance to it or they are trusting in their “vaccine”.
2nd point. You want more kids to be vaccinated before dropping the mask mandate and even compared Covid to polio. I am assuming you are vaccinated and probably even boosted and yet you still caught Covid and became very sick from it. I am guessing you probably did not have to go to the hospital and you obviously didn’t die, but you are at higher risk because of your age. I am a firm believer in vaccinations, I have even had the Covid “vaccine”, but it is not really a vaccine if it does not prevent the disease, it is merely a shot, similar to the flu shot that may or may not protect you from Covid for a few months. For this reason I see it unnecessary to get the booster and I have not and will not get my kids vaccinated because they are in an extremely low risk age group, just like 99.9% of all kids at having a severe case of this virus. If you were to do a little more research you will find a lot more information and studies available about the detrimental effects this “vaccine” is having on kids health, especially their hearts.
My husband personally knows two people who had to go to the hospital because of heart attack-like symptoms during athletic activity following getting their Covid booster. Both were diagnosed with Myocarditis caused by the Covid booster shot. Myocarditis has been reported to be affecting mostly boys and men who are athletes or in extremely good physical condition. This healthy population is in the lowest risk category for Covid, should they put their hearts at risk by getting the “vaccine” because you think everyone should get vaccinated?
You also referred to me and others in this community as someone who is stuck in the 18th or 19th century because I will not vaccinate my kids. Really?! I am reading as much information as I can get my hands on to learn everything I can about this virus and the vaccine and then I am making what I think is the best decision for my health and that of my kids. That is my decision to make, not yours. I believe that these are the actions of someone who is living in the 21st century. I did not appreciate being chastised by you and told that I am living in the dark ages, it was the most arrogant and closed minded generalization you made all night.
3rd point, you say the kids don’t mind wearing masks. I am going to make the assumption that you also think they can breathe just fine with their masks on. Have you actually talked to any kids? I am sure there are some who are OK with it, but you said yourself Monday night nobody will wear a mask if the mandate is removed. I noticed that while you were talking you kept pulling your mask away from your face so that you could breathe and be heard and your mask was constantly slipping below your nose. According to my 5th and 8th grader if you were wearing your mask like that at school you would have gotten yelled at by a teacher.
According to the CDC, this is not effective mask wearing if you really are trying to protect yourself. There is a whole page on the CDC website with pictures and instructions on how to properly fit an N95 or KN95 mask to your face, which has been the only mask proven to actually prevent Covid transmission. This is step 5 on the CDC.gov website on How to use your N95 respirator, it says “Your N95 must form a seal to your face to work properly. Your breath must pass through the N95 and not around its edges. Jewelry, glasses, and facial hair can cause gaps between your face and the edge of the mask. The N95 works better if you are clean shaven. Gaps can also occur if your N95 is too big, too small, or it was not put on correctly.” Link.
Have you ever worn your mask the way the CDC has directed? I’m guessing you have probably tried, but I’m also guessing from watching you Monday night that you could not breathe when trying to wear your mask how it is really supposed to be worn. This “do as I say, not as I do” attitude is the same brand of hypocrisy which we have grown accustomed to from elected officials all around the world. Please do your homework and better educate yourself for the sake of our kids. Please stop pushing what has become more about political beliefs and less about science on our kids. If you cannot put in the time to properly do this job then I believe you are not fit to continue serving in this position.
If I do not receive a response from you I will assume you did not read this email and I will plan on reading it to you at the next board meeting.
Thank you for your time and for the good things you have done in our community.
This is a copy of the email that Ms. Tuttle sent to the Chatham County School Board after Monday evening’s board meeting.