26
OPINION
SCOTTSDALE PROGRESS | WWW.SCOTTSDALE.ORG | JUNE 28, 2020
Opinion
Send your opinions to opinions@scottsdale.org Scottsdale.org l
@ScottsdaleProgress
/ScottsdaleProgress
I don’t like wearing a mask, but I am now BY MAYOR W.J. "JIM" LANE Progress Guest Writer
I
recently issued an emergency proclamation that mandated masks to be worn in public places in our community. This proclamation’s impact on our COVID-19 medical situation will be reviewed weekly and run through July 20. This is to an effort to keep Scottsdale open, healthy and safe. We need to understand that COVID-19 is with us and we have a personal responsibility to protect ourselves from any viral infection. As good people and a “Golden Rule” community, we have the additional re-
sponsibility to respect the needs and fears of our fellow citizens. As many of you know, Arizona is a designated COVID-19 contagion hotspot, with the positive test infection rate going from 5 percent on May 17 to a rate of 20 percent on June 14. It has had the understandable corresponding effect of a continuing increasing trend in hospitalization numbers and the increasing draw down of their healthcare resources. These facts are clearly set out on the Arizona Department of Health and Human Services website and are supported independently in conversations I have had with the CEO’s of our major local healthcare providers: HonorHealth, Mayo Clinic
and Banner. Nearly 60 percent of all COVID-19 infections reported have been among those under 45 years old. A group that runs between being asymptomatic to hospital cases. They can easily infect people without knowing it. We need to adjust and know that COVID-19 will be with us for a while yet. Our first responsibility is to keep ourselves and our families safe and keeping our city’s economy on the recovery path is part of that effort. I would never take an action like this lightly. I study our county’s numbers and considered Scottsdale’s unique tourist industry when I weighed the prospectively positive impact this proclamation would
have on our COVID-19 hotbed status versus staying the course. Your city government has no desire to run your life. The city’s only real mission is to move us all forward together again in a working and sustainable city. I don’t like wearing a mask. I will now. I know it is important. This isn’t a flawed projection. This is in real time. We are making an effort to address it now so we can continue to rebuild our city’s community and economy. This is not intended to be a long-term situation. We need, for the sake of Scottsdale, to put aside any anger that may divide us, and let’s make this work. Let us work together like the community I know we can be.
like in the past. Almost everyone relishes a night on the town at our favorite establishment and the chance to interact with the public. As we return to our cherished old ways, we should try to patronize restaurants which practice social distancing and prudent prophylactic policies. For a number of understandable reasons, many restaurants have chosen not to do so. They are desperately trying to make up for the debilitating loss of income and are not required to do so under either local or state law. They may insinuate they are practicing prudent policies, but look the other way when advantageous to do so. Requiring staff to wear masks, implementing stringent cleaning practices, and limiting diners to ensure proper distancing all hurt the bottom line. As restaurants try to make up for what can only be a stag-
gering amount of lost revenue, ignoring all of these practices is tempting. It is especially attractive when a surprising percentage of the local population does not seem to care either way. Unfortunately, it is a bit disconcerting to have your server wearing a mask, which does take away from an otherwise festive atmosphere. Furthermore, it is easier to simply find an excuse or justification for returning to the previous norm. As you can well imagine, this is extremely frustrating to restaurateurs who are committed to protecting both their employees and their customers and who recognize the seriousness of the pandemic. Sadly, many of them have endured complaints by their patrons who do not like to see their serving staff don masks and are displeased they cannot get a table because space is limited. Even more surprisingly, in certain in-
stances, the customers accuse such businesses of “overreacting” to a state of affairs that they believe is “overstated” or “exaggerated.” Even worse are individuals who believe the pandemic is only a political myth. Under the circumstances, if you really want to help truly deserving businesses, try to frequent restaurants which have implemented protective strategies and let them know you appreciate it. Remember, they are not doing so for their own financial benefit. These restaurants have decided that protecting the public is more important than increasing the bottom line, and such conduct should be condoned and recognized. The reality that they may also be saving lives should not be minimized.
Restaurants get bum rap for protecting lives BY RANDY NUSSBAUM Progress Guest Writer
T
he pandemic has totally disrupted the restaurant business. Many restaurants will not survive and the ones that do will struggle in the face of operational changes. The public is understandably nervous about patronizing businesses, which by their very nature, especially in an Arizona summer, require you to sit in a closed environment surrounded by a fellow citizen who may be infected by COVID-19. Furthermore, all of us have become conditioned to eating at home, preparing our own meals and, in most instances, enjoying the experience. Nevertheless, it is inevitable that most Scottsdale residents and its visitors will once again become restaurant frequenters
-Randy Nussbaum is a long-time resident of Scottsdale and a Shareholder with the Scottsdale law �irm Sacks Tierney.
