Bill seeking to ban mandates for vaccines, masks endangers Ohioans
Have the politicians lost their minds? House Bill 248 bans mask mandates and vaccine requirements for all of Ohio. Don’t businesses, particularly medical facilities, have the right to protect those within their private establishments?
Hospitals and other medical providers have developed a multitude of means to reduce the risk of patients getting new infections during their care. Whole teams of infection-control personnel develop detailed plans to prevent spread of infection within the facility. Critical in this regard are mask use and worker vaccination.
Don’t these legislators care if patients are exposed to hepatitis, chickenpox, tuberculosis, influenza, COVID-19 or other infections while in a hospital or extended care facility?
Medical center infections from such germs sporadically develop even in facilities with strong prevention efforts. Politicians supporting this bill are blocking effective measures that protect hospitalized patients.
This law makes as much sense as banning the use of antibiotics in hospitals. They are literally putting the public in danger when hospitalized.
This bill threatens all Ohioans.
Michael Para, Columbus