A day after President Joe Biden announced sweeping new federal vaccine mandates for millions of Americans, North Texas residents had widely divergent views on the administration’s most aggressive effort yet to bring the COVID-19 pandemic under control.

Some see the president’s move as just the latest in a series of bids by government at all levels to curtail individuals’ rights to make medical decisions for themselves and their families. Others say the new federal requirements are a welcome strategy to curtail a disease that continues to spread, with case numbers, fatalities and hospitalizations all soaring in recent weeks.

When the coronavirus vaccines were made widely available earlier this year, J.T. Tracey had doubts about whether he would roll up his sleeve.

Tracey, 27, said he thought his own immune system might be able to fight the coronavirus better than any vaccine could. But that all changed when clients for the medical-supply company he works for mandated that everybody who does business with them be inoculated. He recently got his vaccine.

Rebecca Freeman (from left), 77; Tonya Applewhite, 48; and John Almeida, 62, said they support President Joe Biden's vaccine mandate for private-sector employees, health-care workers and federal contractors. They are shown at White Rock Lake's dog park on Friday, Sept. 10, 2021.(Ben Torres / Special Contributor)

People like Tracey — initially hesitant about the vaccines, but even more hesitant about the prospect of a lost livelihood — are exactly who President Joe Biden targeted Thursday when he announced that companies with more than 100 employees would be required to mandate shots for their workers, or have them submit to weekly testing.

“We’ve been patient,” Biden said while announcing the sweeping mandate, which could affect nearly 100 million Americans. “But our patience is wearing thin, and your refusal has cost all of us.” The unvaccinated minority “can cause a lot of damage, and they are,” he said.

Biden’s announcement comes amid a devastating surge driven by the delta variant, filling up hospitals once again with coronavirus patients, the vast majority of them unvaccinated.

Tracey said another factor that led to his decision was hearing from doctors and nurses about the strain hospitals are facing because of the new surge.

“Health-care professionals are telling us that this is what we need to do,” he said Friday while standing in the dog park at White Rock Lake.

One of those professionals is Tonya Applewhite, who sat in the dog park with two friends, surrounded by small and boisterous Chihuahuas and cocker spaniels.

Applewhite, who is a nurse at Medical City Dallas Hospital, said the latest surge has left her exhausted. “He should have done it months ago,” Applewhite said. “I work in a hospital, and I’m sick of it. All of these unvaccinated people are causing these issues.”

A civil liberties issue for some

But for some North Texans, the issue is as much about civil liberties as it is about health.

Friday evening, about 100 people gathered along the road near the Baylor Scott and White hospital campus in McKinney to protest against vaccine mandates.

Some motorists, including the crew in a McKinney Fire Department truck, waved and honked in support of demonstrators. Other motorists could be seen throwing verbal jabs.

Carmen del Castillo, 39, who passed out signs at the protest, said her family moved to Allen from California because of COVID-related mandates.

“We fled California because of the tyranny there,” she said. “They forced vaccine mandates on our children, and they could no longer go to school. We knew this was coming, and we’re just here to alert the masses.”

McKinney resident Paul Smith, 51, also described COVID-19 vaccine mandates as “tyranny.”

“Any time you tell someone ‘You have to do this’ against their will, it’s tyranny,’” said Smith, who noted that he does not oppose COVID-19 vaccines themselves. “It’s just wrong. This is really about your freedom.”

Plano resident Gail Seiler, who is in her 50s, attended the protest with her husband, who is a former nurse, and their daughter and three grandchildren. Seiler said that her entire family had contracted COVID-19 but that no one had experienced serious symptoms.

“I think the mandates are creating vaccine hesitancy,” she said. “When they push and they push and they push … people start asking, ‘Why are they trying to force it on me?’”

According to the state of Texas, 1,266,437 people 12 and older in Dallas County — 58.1% of that population group — are fully vaccinated. That just slightly trails the statewide rate of 58.6%. But that still leaves millions of Texans unprotected.

Vaccinated for the sake of her kids

Reyna Rodriquez was already a believer in the vaccine. On Friday, she said Biden’s mandate was a welcome affirmation, noting that when she heard him say “our patience is running thin,” she thought “I’m with him.”

On Friday, it was time for her second dose of the Pfizer vaccine. She headed to a Dallas County clinic in Oak Cliff on Jefferson Boulevard with two of her five children: 17-year-old Rolando and 12-year-old Madeline, both of whom also got their second doses.

Nurse Danae Johnson delicately took out 26-gauge needles and all three were administered shots. Each got a sky blue bandaid. No one flinched.

Rodriguez said the family pediatrician was the biggest motivator to get vaccinated.

“Why haven’t y’all got it? Think about the twins,” she recalled the doctor saying, referring to her youngest children, a pair of 6-year-olds.

“That changed my mind,” she recounted. “I wasn’t sold when it first came out. It wasn’t until my kids started to go to school.”

Other people in Dallas said Friday that while they’re not vaccine-hesitant, they are mandate-resistant.

“I don’t think he should issue mandates and fines,” Joel Brown said as he waited in his truck to get a COVID-19 test on Northwest Highway in Dallas.

Brown said he owns a construction-management company. While he has fewer than 100 employees, the company sometimes contracts with the federal government, meaning his employees would also fall under Biden’s new mandate.

Brown said he doesn’t anticipate telling his employees to get their shots. He feels their vaccine status is none of his business, and worries that asking his employees whether they’ve been vaccinated might violate the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. (While that law, commonly known as HIPAA, prohibits doctors from disclosing a patient’s medical information, it does not prohibit employers from asking about their workers’ vaccination status or from issuing a vaccine mandate.)

Brown said he isn’t worried about Biden’s promise to fine companies that disobey the mandate. “There’s a fine for everything,” he said. “It’s one in a list of 10,000 at this point.”

A right — “to a certain point”

Deborah Gibson, who was walking her Aussiedoodle, Dundy, around White Rock Lake, said she thinks the mandate will help protect children younger than 12, who are still ineligible to receive their vaccines.

Gibson said that Biden’s new mandate is no different than other mandates that have been in effect for other diseases for decades, including polio.

“I think vaccines are for the betterment of yourself and everyone around you,” she said.

Emma Contreras said she, too, was initially leery of the vaccines when they first came out. But she overcame that initial hesitation, she said.

“Some people don’t want to get it,” Contreras said while walking her Shiba Inu, Pippa. “It’s their right — but only to a certain point.”

Contreras said it’s “unfortunate that we have to treat people like babies.”

“People say, ‘Oh, I’m worried about what’s in the vaccine,’” Contreras said. “But then they eat Hot Cheetos.”

• 00:1:20

  • • Yeah so so I tested positive a couple days before December.

    • And I did not go and get the antibodies right away at the clinic that had them, because I was tired.

    • I waited a day too long, and my oxygen was too low for them to give them to me.

    • And, ummm, My oxygen got worse and worse until it was about 77 .

    • And my husband, being a former nurse, was like 'we have to go to the hospital'.

    • So we were pretty knowledgeable about all of the things that we shouldn’t do, and should do.

    • And I was a little terrified to go to the hospital.

    • But we chose, ummm, we chose medical city Plano we live in Plano.

    • I mean it’s about a minute and a half from our house but we chose that hospital because colonel Allen West, he’s running for governor and he’s to be our GOP chairman, and most people know who Col. Alan West is, he had recently been there for Covid and he had gotten ivermectin and hydrochloric Quinn, budesonide,

    • Yeah he was there for a couple days, and he had gotten the front line doctors treatment protocol.

    • And so we thought, 'well, we know that they do that protocol, so will go there'.,

    • And so my husband printed out the protocol, and i packed a little bag, thinking I was going to be there a few days, and we went to the ER.

• 00:03:09

  • • And, ummm, it was a long wait.

    • You know, My husband saw some signs that maybe care wasn't the greatest there, just from being in the ER.

    • He had written, ummm, written on my paperwork, just, not on the admission form but just the initial details, in very big letters, you know, that my oxygen was 77, hoping that that would get somebody’s attention, and they be like, 'oh my God, we had to get her back here'.

    • But an hour and a half later, I still hadn't been called back.

• 3:44

  • • But eventually, they did come and get me.

    • And, ummm, we gave them The Protocol, and they said, 'Yeah yeah we can we can do that. We can do that for you. We can do that one, that’s not a problem'.

    • And they had my husband leave.

    • And they came, they gave me the supplemental oxygen, the nasal cannula.

    • Took my vitals.

    • Asked me questions.

    • Umm, then it got to the, 'Are you vaccinated?'.

    • [I responded, ] "No."

    • And, it really wasn’t long after that, that I lost control of my care.

    • Like, I wasn’t getting the, ummm, you know, suddenly I wasn’t gonna get the ivermectin.

    • Yeah, [they said,,] 'They couldn’t give the ivermectin', they said, 'because, its, ... '

    • You know, they give you the same line.

    • [They would say,] 'It’s not FDA approved.'

    • [And I said, ] 'Yes it is FDA approved'.

    • And yeah, I argued with them a lot about it.

    • [I said,] 'You can you can use things... you can use medications off-label all the time. Whether it’s for, you know, weight loss, or asthma, or whatever.'.

    • Ummm, and then it was, [and then I asked them,] 'Well what about the budesonide.'

    • [They responded, ] 'No, can’t do that because ...' , you know, they just, they didn’t want to do it.

    • They didn’t want to do the budesonide.

• 00:05:00

  • • So I was in the ER for a day and a half.

    • Like I was literally …. because they don’t open a closed ICU unit, unless they have five patients waiting.

    • Because it’s just not financially […..] for them to do it.

    • And they are open about it.

    • And I was like ‘why am I not getting a bed? Like, if you are admitting me, why am I not …’

    • And they were like ‘Five people need to like be, kind of waiting for an ICU bed for us to open up ….’

    • [group chat]

    • And so, I I wasn’t getting like, you know, medication that I should get.

• 6:03

  • • You know, but eventually, so on the 5th, or it was the night of the 4th, I make it up to the to the ICU.

    • And I was getting worse.

    • I haven’t seen .... .

    • And so now a doctor to this point has not touched me.

    • Not examined me. Not listened to my chest.

    • They took chest x-rays. That type of thing.

    • A doctor has not touched me at this point.

    • And so on the morning of the fifth I finally meet a doctor.

    • And to the doctorperson a doctor Dr. clutch comes in and he asked me you know simple questions you know orientates me asked me if I’m vaccinated not vaccinated I said I’m I’m on vaccinated I work from home and you don’t really come in contact with him and he looked at my hand and he said I’m so sorry Mr. Sayler you’re going to die but yeah he said I’m so sorry Mr. Sayler but you’re going to die

• 
  

Due to 13 days of hospital abuse, neglect and discrimination based on her being not v4cc1nated . My mom has a long road of recovery at home ahead. She has already spent $16,000 on medical care and it is going to cost more. Plus, she is going to be on short term disability for 2 months. The goal is to raise enough money so she can continue to pay for the care she needs and ensure her bills are covered until she is back to work. Many Doctors who fight covid are unable to take insurance because they are under attack from the Biden administration so they are all private pay. So.. Below is the back story on how we got here. It is truly unbelievable but it turns out its a reality happening to so many.

When this experience is all over, my Mom "Gail" wants to create a foundation, This foundation will help those Patriots who find themselves under duress while falling ill during this Plandemic. The Mission Statement will focus on the patient and their families taking back their medical freedom, protecting patient rights, and actually saving those Precious lives

• My mom, Gail Seiler, [...] has done a lot of work to help with medical freedom & pushing back on mandates[.]

• [She] got covid the week of thanksgiving & it quickly turned into covid pneumonia.

• On Dec 3rd, she went to Medical city Plano which she chose because other high ranking officials [, such as colonel Alan West,] had received the Front line Doctors protocol at this hospital.

• Upon admittance to the ER, the abuse, neglect and discrimination began because they found out my mom was not v4cc1nated.

• They refused to give the treatment of ivermectin and budesonide 1mg every 4 hrs as instructed by mom's Doctor, even though she had a prescription as well from her Front line Dr.

• She spent 26 hours in the emergency room on nasal cannula and the rebreather mask oxygen.

• Once moved to covid icu she went into the negative chamber room and put on high flow airvo oxygen and bipap even though she did not need it.

• The Dr came in the next day and walked in and the first thing he said was while tapping her hand, "Im sorry Mrs. Seiler, but your going to die."

• To which my mom replied, "your fired, I did not come here to die. But since you gave me a terminal diagnoses I want my priest here and I am invoking my right try act that trump passed for trying the treatment I asked for. I want my ivermectin and budesonide every 4 hours." The Dr showed up every day anyways and said the same thing to her for 10 days. He would only push remdeseviere (which can cause liver and kidney failure- it is so toxic they are supposed to test kidney function after every dose) & ventilation. The refusal of proper treatment was abuse, neglect & discrimination because she was not v4cc1nated. She realized this and asked for her patient advocate on the 3rd day she was there and every day since then, no one ever came in.

Every 5 days the Dr re-wrote an order she could not have family there to advocate for her. Even though there is legislation in Texas, a signed Senate Bill 572, that allows family's to visit loved ones. Keeping a patient isolated from family for the purposes of being able to manipulate & control them is abuse & neglect. For 12 days my mom experienced abusive nurses that did not like that she was not vaccinated. There were only a few good staff there. Dr's would not give proper care and medications needed, the hospital pharmacy & administration of hospital blocked other types or aborted other treatments such as a requested banana bag IV. She had no nutrients for 10 days, no water for 7 days until she was finally able to get ice. She was fully capable of eating and drinking. They overloaded her with diuretics to flush any nutrients she had, the aides did not clean her up every time, leaving her in her filth. She had a wipe bath 2 times during her stay. She had no hair care, bathing or oral care (even on high flow oxygen) for the entire 12 days. She wound up with matted hair, yeast infection and oral thrush. She was refused physical therapy, occupational therapy and the ability to even get up and sit on side of bed resulting in her not able to walk. There was a 3 day period of time where the night nurse was intentionally giving my mom her lovanox shots rough in her stomach and on back of arm. To the point that when the day nurse came in the sheet over her was covered in blood & that nurse said, "oh my God your bleeding." She cleaned her up. This caused my mom to text me she was afraid of her night nurse. I know my mom was lucid, orientated and able to understand and advocate for herself. They just refused to listen. At that point, we had a team of Drs advising us to get her out of that hospital as soon as possible before they killed her. So, with the help of a Senator, a congressman, an attorney and a bunch of amazing frontline Drs and some patriots, we got all the paperwork together to be able to remove her to home care. The home was set up with oxygen and all the things needed. It was just a matter of her husband & myself delivering the letter by hand to the ICU. Her husband had to enter the room and refuse to leave without her release. It took several hours because they made it very difficult and put roadblocks in our way to do this safely. In the end we removed my mom with the added help of the attorney in person and a conversation with a Coronel. Once in the truck, this was the first time my mom said, "I cant believe you did it, I am going to live, I am going to live."

The first 72 hours were very rough, we did something with oxygen that had never been done before. It took a lot of planning, research and knowledge. We had no choice but to save her life from the hospital that would have 100% killed her with their protocol and treatment. Once she got on the Front line Dr protocol she began to improve at home within 3 days. It is evident that had the hospital given her the Front line Dr protocol to begin with along with supplemental oxygen my mom would have been better in 4 to 5 days. But for political reasons, hospitals are targeting the non v4cc1nated and refusing to give patients ivermectin, denying the patient proper care. They push only remdeseviere and intubation, because it drives up the covid death numbers and it is very profitable for the government and hospitals. Because of the neglect and abuse in the hospital, while she is doing better, still has a long road ahead. She is still on oxygen concentrators, she started on the 10 liter cannisters 1 every hours. She has gained most of the control back over her bowels, bladder and ability to walk and stand that she lost in the hospital. The infections from lack hygenic care are pretty much healed. She can walk short distances with a walker and assistance.

Please help us meet our goal to keep her care team going and to help offset the medical expenses. We will update as often as we can in between her care which is still very time demanding.

Most of all we are grateful for anything whether you are led to be giving, praying or sharing. We can attest that this would not be possible without Gods grace and provision because every step to get her home and on the right track has been a miracle. We thank you for being a part of this unfolding miracle.

God Bless

About

• Analytical/problem solving skills to resolve variances.

• Customer service and effective communication skills to address accounting issues.

• Strong work ethic and detail oriented, taking pride in a job done well.

• Talent for quickly grasping, maintaining and implementing knowledge.

• Adaptive and team-oriented while interacting with others to achieve a combined resolution.

• Dependable self-starter who finds solutions to problems.

• Resourceful, hands-on, and effective teaching/coaching skills.

• Proven track record of recognized excellence.

• Four years active duty US Army Commissioned Officer and five years US Army Reserve.

Experience

• Aethon Energy

  • • Staff Accountant : Jul 2014 - Aug 2017 · 3 yrs 2 mos , Dallas, Texas

• Magnum Hunter Resources Corporation

  • • Property Accountant : Jan 2014 - Jun 2014 · 6 mos , Grapevine

      • • Property team recognized for role in filing annual 10-K six days ahead of required filing date and remediating 11 out of 14 previously identified material weaknesses in internal controls over financial reporting.

        • Capital Expenditure Accruals – Learned a complicated existing CAPEX accrual processes for 3 separate chart of accounts and streamlined within 3 months.

        • Process improvement – Responsible for new Owner setups, 98 in first 3 months, and began immediate process changes to tighten procedures around IRS requirements and SOX compliance.

        • Account Reconciliations – responsible for preparing a variety of monthly reconciliations to include CAPEX, Fixed Assets, DD&A as well as commenting on quarterly variances.

        • Operations Reports – Created system reports in 4 separate databases to provide executive level summary information on weekly capital expenditure with detail at well level for top spend properties.
          Desktop procedures – Created desktop procedures for CAPEX accruals, quarterly reports for financial reporting, weekly Management CAPEX report, Well code and Owner setups, deck maintenance system (Spiceworks), and running various system reports.

        • Property team recognized for role in filing annual 10-K six days ahead of required filing date and remediating 11 out of 14 previously identified material weaknesses in internal controls over financial reporting. Capital Expenditure Accruals – Learned a complicated existing CAPEX accrual processes for 3 separate chart of accounts and streamlined within 3 months. Process improvement – Responsible for new Owner setups, 98 in first 3 months, and began immediate process changes to tighten procedures around IRS requirements and SOX compliance. Account Reconciliations – responsible for preparing a variety of monthly reconciliations to include CAPEX, Fixed Assets, DD&A as well as commenting on quarterly variances. Operations Reports – Created system reports in 4 separate databases to provide executive level summary information on weekly capital expenditure with detail at well level for top spend properties. Desktop procedures – Created desktop procedures for CAPEX accruals, quarterly reports for financial reporting, weekly Management CAPEX report, Well code and Owner setups, deck maintenance system (Spiceworks), and running various system reports.

• Encana Oil & Gas (USA), Inc

• 5 yrs 10 mos

  • JIB Accountant

  • May 2008 - Nov 2013 · 5 yrs 7 mos

  • Dallas/Plano

    • • Non-operated properties – review and process up to 17 monthly invoices, 1 was consistently in the multiple million dollar range, verifying correct coding and Working Interest and routing for review and approval according to an established Approval Matrix.

      • Reduced monthly non-operated accruals by 83% - actively working disputed items.

      • Account Reconciliations – responsible for preparing monthly operated and non-operated cash call reconciliations as well as commenting on quarterly variances.

      • Account Receivables – responsible for up to 153 partner accounts, making contact to clear accounts approaching and exceeding 60 days past due and maintaining below a 20% delinquency rate.

      • Analysis - implemented a quarterly process to review non-operated WI billed WI versus operated default WI and communicating results to finance team and property operator.
        Written Communication – wrote desktop instructions for multiple non-operated processes: invoice processing, delay rental payments.
        Process improvement – Partner with internal groups to promote an efficient process of determining accurate billed working interest to eliminate disputes as well as reverse and rebook entries to correct billing errors.

      • Non-operated properties – review and process up to 17 monthly invoices, 1 was consistently in the multiple million dollar range, verifying correct coding and Working Interest and routing for review and approval according to an established Approval Matrix. Reduced monthly non-operated accruals by 83% - actively working disputed items. Account Reconciliations – responsible for preparing monthly operated and non-operated cash call reconciliations as well as commenting on quarterly variances. Account Receivables – responsible for up to 153 partner accounts, making contact to clear accounts approaching and exceeding 60 days past due and maintaining below a 20% delinquency rate. Analysis - implemented a quarterly process to review non-operated WI billed WI versus operated default WI and communicating results to finance team and property operator. Written Communication – wrote desktop instructions for multiple non-operated processes: invoice processing, delay rental payments. Process improvement – Partner with internal groups to promote an efficient process of determining accurate billed working interest to eliminate disputes as well as reverse and rebook entries to correct billing errors.

  • Accounts Payable Accountant

  • Feb 2008 - Nov 2010 · 2 yrs 10 mos

  • Dallas/Fort Worth Area

    • • Electronic invoicing - contacted at least 2 vendors per month to maintain 90% of suppliers submitting invoices electronically which improved payment cycle time and reduced paper flow.

      • Invoice Approval - work Operations and Drilling/Completion teams to ensure accuracy in coding of invoices and approver selection.

      • Invoice cycle time - maintain a 10 day turnaround of electronic invoices with 30 day terms to allow each approver time to review the invoice and achieve payment within terms.

      • Payment discounts - process Early Pay Discount/Quick Pay invoices within 1 business day of receipt to take advantage of supplier discounts.

      • Check requests - Meet daily cut off times for Check Request processing to provide quick and efficient turn around while working with requestors and keeping them informed of issues.
        Corporate internal audits – assist to maintain historical record integrity.

Education

• The University of Texas at Arlington

  • • Bachelor of Business Administration (B.B.A.), Business Administration and Management, General (1983 - 1988)

      • • Activities and societies: ROTC, National Dean's List

        • Served during the period of Operation Desert Storm.

• invalid15251257

  • • Associate of Science (AS), Registered Nursing/Registered Nurse