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COVID-19 State of emergency Public Comment from Jim Cossitt2From:Jim Cossitt To:JHC, PC Subject:[EXTERNAL] Fwd: Extension of Stay at Home and Other Directives Date:Tuesday, April 7, 2020 6:40:53 PM Jim Cossitt Mail: PO Box 1889 Kalispell MT 59903-1889 USA Physical locations (no US mail): Primary = 19 Happy Dream Trail, Coram MT or: Secondary = 922 Thornton Avenue, Des Moines, IA Cell: 406-260-6969 | Work: 406-752-5616 | www.cossittlaw.com “Integrity is doing the right thing, even when no one is watching.” CS Lewis “The last and greatest human freedom: the ability to choose one’s own attitude in any given situation.” Elie Wiesel ---------- Forwarded message ---------From: Bullock, Governor <governor@mt.gov>Date: Tue, Apr 7, 2020 at 6:22 PMSubject: Extension of Stay at Home and Other DirectivesTo: Jim Cossitt <jim.cossitt@gmail.com> Today I extended my Directives through April 24 to protect Montanans from COVID-19 byslowing the spread of the virus in Montana. These extensions include my stay at home order, school closures, on-premises dining andbeverage operations, eviction and foreclosure suspensions and service disconnections and themandatory 14-day self-quarantine for travelers coming into Montana. We don’t have to become like New York, Louisiana or Idaho. We know that staying homewill help to flatten the curve. For every person we take out of the chain of transmission of thisvirus, the more likely our health care facilities can handle the capacity to respond, and themore likely we can beat back this virus sooner rather than later. We stay at home to ensure that our health care workers and first responders have adequatetime to receive the supplies to keep them, their patients, and their families safe. We stay hometo protect Montanans in our rural communities and our rural health care workers who facelong distances to access care. Stay home. Avoid gatherings or hanging out with people outside of your household. Onlygo out if you are an essential worker, or to take a trip to the grocery store, or to enjoysome fresh air. I would also encourage you to wear a cloth mask or face covering, consistent with CDCguidelines, in public settings where other social distancing measures are difficult to maintain,such as at grocery stores or pharmacies. Please use cloth face coverings and not surgical masks or N95 masks which are desperately needed by our health care workers and first responders.It’s also important to know that while cloth masks do help protect those around you, theyshould not be used as a replacement to social distancing or other protective measures such aswashing your hands. We stay at home for the Montanans in our rural communities and for our rural health careworkers. We are a state where there can be long distances to access care. It’s easy to look at the map ofCOVID-19 cases and see that many Central and Eastern Montana counties don’t yet have apositive case. While this seems like a bright spot, an outbreak in a rural community could overrun a localhealthcare facility. The distances between critical care access hospitals in Montana are farbetween. It is already difficult for our fellow rural Montanans to access care, and we ought notmake those challenges more cumbersome. And we stay at home so that we can more quickly rebuild our thriving economy. It is not achoice between a healthy population and a healthy economy. The two go hand in hand. Managing this public health crisis now will help to prevent long-term consequences that couldupend our economy for a longer duration and with a worse outcome. I know this is an extremely challenging time for small businesses and workers alike. Wecontinue to strive to do everything we can to help support those businesses and workers duringthis time. I can’t stress enough that every step Montanans take now and in the following weeks willmake all the difference in stopping the spread of COVID-19 and getting our economy back upand running. Thanks so much for everything you are doing to slow the spread of this virus andcare for the members of your community. You can view all my Directives that have been extended online at:https://covid19.mt.gov/joint-information-center Sincerely, STEVE BULLOCKGovernor