Teen Kickstarts Petition To Change Douglas County Decision To Leave Tri-County Health
PARKER, Colo. (CBS4) - A teenager is leading the charge to reverse Douglas County's decision to leave Tri-County Health Department.
"Our public health is being just is just becoming more of a political game now in our community. It's a shame," said Ethan Reed a rising Senior at Legend High School in Parker.
Reed started a change.org petition to try and voice to county commissioners that people want the county to change course. Last week, the Douglas County said it would leave Tri-County Health Department after the Board of Health voted to require face coverings while allowing municipalities to opt-out.
"That's unsafe. That's putting our community at risk for seeing a surge and potentially closing again which we don't want because our economy has already suffered greatly for this," Reed said. "We should stay with Tri-County Health. I really hope this urges them to rethink their actions so we can have a mask mandate because our public health is at risk."
The petition had over 1,500 signatures on Monday night. It was started over the weekend. Most recent data from Tri-County Health shows that Douglas County has significantly fewer cases of COVID-19 and has seen a decrease in cases over the past few days when viewed over a three-day average.
Reed has become politically active and sits on several committees including the Douglas County School District's Reopening Task Force. DCSD is recommending face coverings or masks for students and teachers when school resumes next month, despite the county commissioners decision to nix requiring masks.
Parents are being asked to respond to a survey between in-person learning and remote learning.
"They're really taking into account our safety so I would trust, and hope, they do follow along with the health guidelines," Reed said about the Board of Education for DCSD.
