We Americans have a deep-rooted problem with mandates. It’s inbred in all of us, maybe starting when our mom ordered us to eat all of our carrots and broccoli.
We distrust and detest orders. We hate to be compelled or forced to do something, especially by our government, which is why we find income tax audits so repulsively invasive.
Many of us see mandates as fascism that would make us nothing more than puppets at the mercy of some demented dictator pulling our strings.
Even worse would be a mandate to do something we suspect is not in our best interest or possibly even harmful, like being vaccinated.
This deadly virus that has invaded our country is far worse than the blitz Hitler ordered on major cities in Great Britain during World War II.
What if the populations in those targeted cities had refused to take shelter? Had not retreated to underground tunnels where they lived in squalor until the bombing raids stopped?
There probably would be fewer Brits today!
This is the situation in which we Americans find ourselves today as we embrace, like Brits did in 1940, a way to survive. Or do we shun the mandates on the rise to quell a new surge by the invader, Covid-19.
Still, something akin to survival of not just ourselves, but our families, our communities, our livelihoods, perhaps even our Nation, is beginning to weigh in.
The Delta variant is causing many employers who want their businesses to survive to rethink vaccine mandates. With Covid-19 cases back on the rise due to the Delta variant, more employers are implementing vaccine mandates.
The Covid-19 vaccine is quickly becoming mandatory for many workers, as worries over Covid-19 have surged again, mostly due to the Delta variant, which is now responsible for about 83% of all new cases.
Setting an example, The Department of Veterans Affairs has announced the Covid-19 vaccine was mandatory for health-care personnel, including doctors, dentists and nurses. Staff will have eight weeks to get fully vaccinated, a step VA Secretary Denis McDonough said will help keep veterans safe.
In our Nation’s largest city, New York City municipal workers, such as firefighters, police officers and teachers, will be required to get the vaccine or get weekly coronavirus testing–a requirement set to take effect Sept. 13 and covering about 30,000 workers. I recommend it starts on 9/11 as the pandemic is nearing that level of frightening consequences.
Today there is talk at a federal level to impose compulsory masks on kids.
Now there is speculation of a possible federal mask mandate in public schools after the American Academy of Pediatrics recommended universal masking in schools, something the CDC is seriously considering. Perhaps it’s time to accept some reasonable mandates to speed our victory over another terrible invasion . . . of Covid-19.
Besides an inveterate blogger, Tom Madden is an author of countless published articles and five books, including his latest, WORDSHINE MAN, available this summer on Amazon. He is the founder and CEO of TransMedia Group, an award-winning public relations firm serving clients worldwide since 1981 and has conducted remarkably successful media campaigns and crisis management for America’s largest companies and organizations.