Editor’s note: The author of the following letter contacted the Journal to note that her letter was not about vaccine mandates but about the way the county has recently handled the pandemic. The title has been changed to better reflect the author’s intentions.

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Fascism is now on full display in San Juan County and it is an ugly sight. I have had my objections with many actions of the San Juan County Health Department through this pandemic but I at least believed that most of their leadership were trying to do what they thought was best for all in the community. Their verbiage of late has turned to something very disturbing. Individuals make their decisions to be vaccinated or not to be vaccinated for their own very personal reasons. We do not know their stories nor is it anyone’s business to know. The fear on both sides is valid and it is not for any government of a free nation to force medical choices… and yes, making life impossible to live in one’s own community is a form of force.

Our San Juan County Health Department is encouraging the persecution, ostracizing and public shaming of those who have not made the choice that they want them to make. This most recent poster being offered to businesses encouraging them to ban the unvaccinated is a despicable example of very Nazi and communist-like behavior by those abusing their positions. I have to assume those at the Health Department know nothing of history or they could never allow this to be posted in our town or county. As a woman of Jewish heritage with friends and relatives in generations passed that were persecuted, ostracized, publicly shamed and eventually murdered, it began with posters similar to this in the windows of businesses. Let me say in no uncertain terms that this is the same behavior used by the Nazis in Germany and cannot be permitted to stand. If the leaders in San Juan County allow this, then we have far greater problems than a pandemic.

Lauren Cohen

Friday Harbor