I haven’t published a Hall of Shame article so far in 2021. Not because Howard County isn’t teeming with worthy candidates; I just felt that in-depth, substantive articles were needed for the first couple of months of 2021 more so than pithy jabs at public figures. There’s been a lot to talk about.
Along with everything else that’s been happening in the U.S., I think it’s safe to say that COVID-19 is still a tiny bit of an issue, no? I mean, we’ve lost half a million Americans to the disease. Vaccination rollouts have been a slow, inequitable and highly politicized disaster. Here in Howard County, we’ve lost well over 200 of our neighbors to COVID-19; the recent loss of beloved Recreation & Parks leader Laura Wetherald was sad news to many. It’s been a long, dark winter as the U.S. has watched several thousand Americans succumb to this disease nearly every day.
As Americans, our job is to stop the spread as best we can. Social distancing and proper masking are key. That is how we protect our fellow citizens and do our part to fight this pandemic. It is the absolute least we can do.
Yesterday, the Howard County GOP held a Black History Month event at a local restaurant. Look at the photos. There are over 25 people at this indoor gathering, in close proximity, most not wearing masks. Former Howard County Executive Allan Kittleman was easy to spot standing maskless as he spoke to another person. But it was more of a “Where’s Waldo?” exercise to spot District 9A Delegate Reid Novotny sitting maskless at a table with several other maskless attendees.
As a member of the Maryland legislature and a colonel in the Maryland Air National Guard, perhaps Delegate Novotny has already been vaccinated for COVID-19. If that were the case, I might be willing to give him a pass, despite the fact that the vaccines are not 100% effective and guidelines recommend continued mask-wearing and social distancing even for vaccinated individuals. To me, the bigger problem is that it is his status as a leader in both the political and military spheres that requires him to set the example for how to take proper precautions and how to protect yourself and those around you. We see leaders at all levels of government continuing to observe precautions such as mask-wearing despite having been vaccinated.
I’d urge Delegate Novotny to do better, but I suspect this was not an oversight on his part; it was simply more of the GOP’s “you can’t make me” nose-thumbing we’ve seen throughout this terrible pandemic.