Damakant Jayshi
A resident of Marathon County on Wednesday accused “Jews” who have “dual citizenship with Israel” of creating a COVID-19 “scam” during a public meeting.
The accusations came amidst a mixture of stunned gasps and apparent admiration, with the speaker ignoring repeated pleas by the committee chair to stop his comments.
Christopher Wood, who ran for the Dist. 1 county supervisor seat in the April 2022 election and lost, spoke to the Health and Human Services Committee during the public comment phase of Wednesday’s meeting. Acting chair Jennifer Aarrestad ultimately allowed Wood to finish his allotted three-minute space in a meeting that included discussing a proposed resolution to prevent Covid-related mandates.
There are no such mandates under current consideration. The White House, in its Covid-19 preparedness strategy unveiled last year, includes measures to prevent economic and educational shutdowns. Unclear is why the resolution is being considered now.
Wood called the pandemic, which has resulted in millions of deaths globally, a “scam” and said “the fear that they pushed to such a great extent to try to control, to manipulate us. So I am going to talk about who is actually behind it because not too many people want to do that.”
In his speech, Wood listed more than a dozen high ranking officials and scientists from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, senior officials from the White House, top executives of pharmaceutical companies and representatives from the BlackRock investment firm with a constant refrain: “Dual citizenship with Israel. Jew.” He linked all names to what he called the “Covid agenda.”
“Who’s in charge of the CDC that was controlling and telling our government to shut down small businesses when Covid was being enacted?” Wood said.
“The director of the CDC was Rochelle Walensky. Dual citizenship with Israel. She is a Jew,” he said. “Deputy Director of the CDC? Anne Schuchat. Dual citizenship with Israel. Jew.” By then, objections to his remarks as well as support and thumbs up signs had begun.
“CDC chief of staff? Sherri Berger. Dual citizenship with Israel. Jew. CDC Chief medical officer? Mitchell Wolfe. Dual citizenship with Israel. Jew.”
Wood named 16 individuals, including other officials from the CDC, pharmaceutical companies Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson; and White House officials who oversaw the massive nationwide distribution of the millions of COVID-19 vaccines, each time bringing up their dual citizenship and “Jew” status.
He didn’t stop when the chair gaveled him or asked him to stop. Even after his allotted time was up, he kept uttering names while walking back to his seat, with some in the audience raising their arms in an apparent show of support, and some others giving him a thumbs up. Wood ended by saying “Jews” control the media and banking systems.
Antisemitism in the United States has been on the rise in recent years, according to several reports. According to data released by the Anti-Defamation League, “antisemitic incidents surged to historic levels in 2022, with a total of 3,697 incidents reported across the United States, an increase of 36 percent compared to 2021.” Last month, the ADL noted that “extremists and antisemites are increasingly co-opting the public comment portion of city and town council meetings to spread their hateful beliefs.”
Soon after Wood’s tirade began, Corporation Counsel Michael Puerner walked to Aarrestad and whispered in her ear, which appeared to prompt the acting chair to make her pleas to stop the speech. When Puerner said Wood was out of order, some people in the audience objected, challenging the counsel and pointing out Wood was exercising his freedom of speech. “He said Jew. There’s nothing wrong with Jew. It’s not derogatory,” one woman said. Wood responded, “Exactly.”
Most speakers who addressed the HHS Committee supported the resolution, saying they will stand up for their rights and will not comply with any mandate should one be proposed. Two speakers who opposed the resolution termed it a waste of taxpayer’s money and the supervisors’ time over “political theater” and information they say came from discredited doctors on YouTube.
Resolution appears to address non-existent problem
The resolution “in opposition to covid-19 mandates” discussed Wednesday comes amidst reports of new mutations of the coronavirus infecting an increasing number of people nationwide.
The resolution, authored by Supervisor Stacey Morache, relies heavily on conspiracy websites and oft-debunked claims about the safety and efficacy of masks and vaccines. The proposal also is ambiguous in language, as was pointed by Supervisor Ann Lemmer, since it does not specify whether it pertained only to Covid-19.
“Marathon County Board of Supervisors hereby expresses its position that, unless required by law, Marathon County residents should not have their civil liberties jeopardized by mandates pertaining to face coverings or masking, vaccine requirements, or forced isolation,” the resolution reads, and suggests forwarding it to the “State of Wisconsin Department of Health Services and appropriate members of the Wisconsin Legislature.”
Despite Morache and others justifying the resolution, its necessity and timing are unclear. Neither the Marathon County Board of Supervisors, nor the county’s Department of Health can enforce – or oppose – any legally-binding mandate on residents. That can be done only by the state authorities, as Corporation Counsel Puerner pointed out during the debate. He also said the county cannot not ignore any state law.
“If the local authorities fail to enforce the communicable disease statutes and rules, the department shall take charge, and expenses thus incurred shall be paid by the county or municipality,”a related Wisconsin statute says.
At one point, Morache, who is not a member of the HHS Committee, pointed to the wall of the meeting room and read the motto of the county – to be the healthiest, safest and most prosperous in the state of Wisconsin – while sharing anti-vaccine comments. She was supported by some supervisors who said that the CDC was not reliable and had misled and misinformed people during the pandemic. They also spoke about the adverse impact of prior lockdowns on the mental health of children and adults.
Morache, who represents District 6, said a campaign has begun regarding masking as the “respiratory illness season” approaches. She added that while the rights related to mask and vaccine mandates have been restored, those who refused vaccines and masks during the height of the pandemic were “demonized” and their means of livelihood jeopardized. She said she brought the resolution to protect the civil liberties of the residents of Marathon County from “another round of healthcare overreach.”
Supervisor Lemmer said some of the claims by the people supporting the resolution are not supported by science, adding they were mistaking “co-relation with causation.” The articles cited in support of the resolution “do not fit the credibility requirement that I would have asked my eighth graders who were writing persuasive papers for me.” She was interrupted with boos from the audience.
Lemmer also said the resolution is based more on opinion and less based on facts.
‘County health officer has no authority to enforce mandate’
During the discussion, the role and authority of the county’s health officer was also debated. One supervisor suggested that the health officer is more responsible to state officials instead of to the county, prompting the county administrator to point out that all county officials report to him, and that he answers to the Board of Supervisors.
County staff included documents in the meeting packet about the role and authority of the county’s health officer by quoting profusely from state statutes related to communicable disease enforcement measures.
“Marathon County does not have a Communicable Disease Enforcement Ordinance,” the document said. “For health officers whose County or Municipality does not have a communicable disease enforcement ordinance, any ‘order’ issued will only be advisory and will not have the effect of a legal mandate.” Nor do the county officials have the authority to issue a vaccine mandate.
The resolution appeared to take away the authority of county staff on imposing a non-existent mandate.
The measure was passed by a majority vote of the seven-member committee and now moves to the 38-member Board of Supervisors for its consideration.
