Oral history interview with Amy Hornblas

Oral history interview with Amy Hornblas

Amy Hornblas explains her reasons for leaving her position as a health teacher in St. Johnsbury, Vermont, during the COVID-19 pandemic. The decision was primarily a response to her concerns about mask mandates in schools. She believed that wearing a mask would be harmful to growing children by restricting oxygenation and expiration of carbon dioxide. In addition, she felt wearing masks decreased communication. She discusses the survey she conducted of Vermonters' experiences related to wearing masks during the pandemic and her efforts to disseminate her findings. At one point, she likens the decision to require masks to experiences from the Holocaust, when specific groups of people were viewed as less desirable. She also describes attempts to introduce the wearing of masks as a discussion item at board meetings (primarily in either St. Johnsbury or her hometown of Cabot, Vermont) and speaks about her role in sponsoring a conference on the impact of wearing masks, the "Vermont Emergency Forum to Assess the Respiratory Hazards of Masks," which was held in Burlington, Vermont.

At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Amy Hornblas of Cabot, Vermont, was in her 10th year teaching health in the school district serving St. Johnsbury, Vermont. She disagreed with how schools responded to the pandemic, specifically with mask mandates in schools, and resigned from her job as a health educator to focus on surveying Vermonters about their experiences related to wearing masks during the pandemic.

Sponsored by the Institute of Museum and Library Services MA-251676-OMS-22.

2024-02-13

Collecting COVID-19: A Vermont Story Project

AudioFileCOVID-032

MP3

WAV

Audio file

Permission to publish material from the Collecting COVID-19: A Vermont Story Project may be obtained from the Vermont Historical Society.

Bosek, Marcia Sue DeWolf

Hornblas, Amy

44 min., 3 sec.

Vermont Historical Society Library, 60 Washington Street, Barre, VT 05641-4215