[EXTERNAL] Brian Hoffman Public CommentsDear Councilors,
I'm aware that Covid is not on tonight's agenda but I'm writing to ask that the City of Kalispell immediately pass measures to protect Kalispell citizens from the spread of Covid-19.
Though the county commissioners and county health board refuse to enact any reasonable measures such as crowd limits, the city has the power to take matters into its own hands to protect
our town and the people in it. People like myself, my friends, my family, and my elderly grandparents. This is an emergency and we are approaching a cliff's edge.
I have family that work in the hospital and they have told me it's a matter of days before they are doing emergency surgery in the hallways, just like New York City this spring. I happened
to be in NYC this spring at the peak of the first wave of Covid-19 and it was a dark, tragic period that I certainly hope that my hometown of Kalispell can avoid. Though, as our county
commissioners have pointed out, Covid will continue to spread, it is not hopeless. Reasonable measures can prevent unnecessary death and suffering and slow the spread so that our small
hospital is not overwhelmed. We have super spreader events scheduled in the next few months and I beg the city council to enact crowd limits as soon as possible, certainly before it
is too late.
I want to thank the Mayor and Council for setting a strong example by wearing masks. This small act doesn't just make a visual point, it may have saved lives as it is possible to carry
and transmit Covid without knowing it, personally one of my greatest fears and perhaps the main reason I never go anywhere without my mask.
It's not yet too late. Please help save our city, our hospital, our health department, and our citizens.
Respectfully,
Brian Hoffman