Letter To The Editor: SPA Criticizes Mayor's Vaccine Mandate

To the Editor...

On August 6, 2021 City of Stamford Mayor David Martin announced an executive order mandating all city employees be vaccinated for COVID-19 or be subject to weekly testing in order to perform their duties. The Stamford Police Association is deeply troubled by this course of action taken by the Mayor which is not only rooted in hysteria and overreaction, but within a week’s time was proven to be a hypocritical display of political theatre at the hands of the Mayor and his administration.

With the swoop of a pen Mayor Martin, who is in the midst of a hotly contested re-election campaign, decided that he, and his administration of bureaucrats, should have the ultimate say in the personal decisions his employees make, merely because we are employed by him. The Mayor is pushing this agenda under the guise that it is his responsibility to keep his employees, and the citizens they interact with, safe from community spread.

In March of 2020 when COVID first hit the City of Stamford and the fear in the community was palpable, it was the city employees like the Stamford Police Department, the Stamford Fire Department, and Stamford EMS, along with the many workers of the City Operations Department, who answered the call and gauged our own risks while providing valuable services to the city and its residents – all while the Mayor and his staff governed the city remotely. As essential workers, we battled COVID head on, often contracting the virus ourselves and/or bringing it home to our families. Now that the heavy lifting has been done, we’re being told we no longer have our personal autonomy anymore?

The Mayor claims the vaccine mandates, as well as the new indoor mask policy issued on August 10, 2021, is in direct response to the surge in cases from the Delta variant in Stamford. By January of 2021, vaccine distribution was available to all first responders and healthcare workers in the city, but no mandate was issued even when cases in Fairfield County were soaring far higher than their current levels. In March 2021, after a dip in cases between January and February of 2021, Fairfield County saw another surge in cases that significantly outpaced the rate at which cases are surging right now due to Delta. Still no mandate from the city at that time.

As of August 16, 2021, there are 285 total hospitalizations statewide in a state of approximately 3.5 million people. The seven day average death rate is virtually non-existent to the point it is not even being reported by the Governor’s weekly COVID data updates. Where has this change in urgency come from? Where is the emergency? The change in urgency links directly to the Mayor’s re-election campaign as he has continually used his COVID response as the main reason justifying his re-election.

The Mayor was so concerned about the safety and health of his city constituents that he deems it necessary and appropriate to play guardian and doctor to his employees, unqualified as he is to do so. Meanwhile, within a week of issuing his mandates he approved of a Food Festival and Concert series at Mill River Park that drew over 4,000 people in a confined space. The Mayor hid behind his mask mandate, claiming the event would require masks since the capacity was over 100 people, but anyone within a birds eye view of the event could see the mandates were not being enforced by the city. This was the kick-off event on the city schedule that includes similar large scale events every weekend this summer, leading into the Alive at 5 concert series scheduled for September.

How can the Mayor’s intentions be taken seriously when the current Delta situation, in his mind, is so dire as to warrant removing the ability of his employees to make their own personal decisions outside of the workforce, yet it is completely fine to conduct mass gathering, super spreader events for the next six weeks straight?

The Mayor has the right to facilitate these community events as they are often what makes Stamford the vibrant city it is, and we support the economic growth and entertainment the city can provide. However, what we do not support is the mixed signals coming from the Mayor’s office at this time.

Police Officers if unvaccinated, many of whom possess natural immunity after already being infected with COVID, have to wear masks if they are sitting next to each other in patrol vehicles or inside their unit offices. Four thousand patrons with unknown vaccination statuses and no masks can drink beers and scream on top of each other in Mill River Park. It is deplorable that the Mayor has more faith in the personal decisions of intoxicated concert goers, than he does for the men and women who executed the very COVID response the Mayor takes all the credit for leading. The main difference between these two groups is one group the Mayor can control for political points.

The Mayor apparently gets to make decisions using his discretion to decide which scenarios are and are not dangerous for his employees and constituents, even when it lacks convincing scientific evidence. It is shameful his employees, who have personally sacrificed far more than the Mayor ever could, are not afforded the respect of having the same discretion.

— SPA President, Vice-President and Board of Trustees