Vax-passport push back comes to Marin

Sherman R. Frederick

Novato Advance

Carrying signs that read “If You Can’t Question It, It’s Not Science” and “I Don’t Co-Parent With Government” a handful of Marin residents took to the streets to protest what they say is essentially the imposition of vax-passports in Marin. 

Two public protests were scheduled to take place this week. One on Tuesday at the Marin County Board of Education in-person meeting and one on the same day at the Novato Unified School District meeting. 

Last week, people issued 500 “warning” posters to Downtown Novato businesses.

“We’re just letting them know that if they try to segregate us we’re not going to support them anymore,” said Tief Gibbs of Novato.

In the protests aimed at school officials, Lisa Longnecker, a parent active in the pushback movement said in a press release that “mask mandates are illegal, they discriminate and they segregate our children, which cannot be tolerated. Medical decisions should be made by parents in conjunction with their doctor and NOT medical bureaucrats.”

After the protest last week, which was covered by two San Francisco television stations, Novato resident Nancy Abruzzo said, the media tends to misrepresent the focus of the protest. 

“What our group of concerned citizens stands for is anti-vax passports. Most of our group last night (in Novato) have been vaccinated and wear masks when asked to. It’s discriminatory practices that are so very dangerous and derisive. We will not patronize businesses who demand to know our medical status before allowing us to spend our dollars in their stores or restaurants. I loathe boycotts, but I have to put my foot down on this issue. It’s wrong. Plain and simple.”

The protesters described their efforts as a “series of strategic moves designed to pressure County Health and school officials,” adding that “Marin County Parents are taking rightful control over medical decisions that directly affect their families and in consultation with their family physicians..”

“It’s our children, our choice” said one member of the group. 

One of the group’s press releases said “The pro-Medical choice parents are siding with people from all backgrounds and political persuasions to fight for an end to mandatory masking/vaccine mandates in both public and private schools, contending that there is ZERO science for the mandates. As of now, there are ZERO hospitalizations of children in Marin County. The youngest citizen of the County hospitalized is approximately 29 years old, according to County Health Director Dr. Matt Willis.”

On Aug. 20, the city of San Francisco will become the first major city in the country to require proof of full vaccination against the coronavirus for a variety of indoor activities, including visiting bars, restaurants, gyms and entertainment venues that serve food or beverages, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. 

The L.A. Times, meanwhile, examined a seven-day period and compared California to the lesser restrictive states of Florida and Texas. In that time frame, California reported 141.1 new coronavirus cases per 100,000 residents. That’s less than half the rate for Texas, which had 297.8 new cases per 100,000 residents during that time. In Florida, there were 653.8 new coronavirus cases per 100,000 residents in those same seven days. All of those figures come from the CDC.

And when it comes to serious cases of COVID-19 that require hospital care, California reported an average of 772 new hospital admissions per day. In the same week, Texas averaged 1,403 new COVID-19 hospitalizations per day and Florida averaged 2,071.