Despite the witless antics among a relatively small cadre of Douglas County residents and elected officials, Colorado, and the world, is indeed in the grips of a deadly dangerous virus pandemic.
Recent threats against local health department officials — including civil war and vandalism — all to protest local and state health orders and restrictions, only complicate the pandemic crisis quagmire.
Threats by so-called freedom fighters, confused about the law, the facts and the science, have conflated dire measures to protect public health and safety with jeopardizing constitutional rights.
Clearly, the problem with these dangerously misled and mistaken combatants cannot be resolved, it can only be managed.
Local and state leaders must make protecting public health and the economy the priority in making decisions, rather than caving into fear of aggravating a group of people who cannot be reasoned with.
An absurd scene on Mother’s Day at a Castle Rock coffee shop shocked the region and the world with how flagrantly cruel and ignorant dozens of people and even state leaders can be. The owner of Coffee and Creme restaurant there allowed teams of people without masks to flaunt state law and common sense by packing the place. The stated goal for many was to stick a collective thumb in the eyes of health officials and health-workers. State Rep. Patrick Neville, R-Highlands Ranch, a state Republican leader in the House, posed for pictures in the crowd and posted it to social media, saying that, “The left mob is coming after me over this hardcore. I have to take a step back and think, ‘they are this crazy angry because I went to a coffee shop?’ It is shocking that we have gotten to this point, but it was my pleasure to attend.”
Such political and intellectual malfeasance only serves to inflame people like himself who already have a tenuous grasp on reality and good sense. Neville and others are trying to make the excruciating job of protecting lives and the economy a cheeky partisan battle.
None of this is funny to the families of the almost 1,000 people in Colorado who have died agonizing deaths after falling victim to the virus. None of this is funny to the endless thousands of families and friends who live in terrorizing fear that someone they love in a nursing home or with a serious medical issue is just counting the days until infection. None of this is even remotely amusing to tens of thousands of police, firefighters, doctors, nurses and aids who are afraid that just another day at work could realistically mean a death sentence to their family members or even themselves.
Gov. Jared Polis, local county and health officials and Aurora lawmakers cannot allow themselves to be bullied by these cruel and heartless scofflaws. These people simply cannot fathom the concept of shortsightedness. They cannot see that reducing the rate of infection now prevents the need for more or even worse closures months, or possibly just weeks, from now.
Elected officials must buck up and make decisions to protect everyone from these senseless freedom fighters, and even protect this misguided lot from themselves. A popular meme rings true that the end of stay-at-home orders does not mean the threat of the pandemic has passed. It means only that there’s available ICU beds and ventilators in local hospitals — for now.
Social distancing is not a political philosophy. It’s science. It can and does reduce the rate of infection, which is critical for protecting lives and the public healthcare infrastructure.
Wearing masks in public is not a partisan ploy. It’s also science, and it’s not unclear. When everyone in public wears face coverings, the rate of virus transmission is reduced, substantially. Masks protect others rather and may even offer some self-protection. Local health officials have repeatedly said that proper mask protocol can reduce the rate of transmission by 50%. It means that a mandatory mask law can cut in half the number of virus cases created by people simply going to the grocery or hardware store. Half.
But local and even state officials are afraid that a mandatory mask law will anger these self-styled freedom fighters. No doubt it will.
But Wheat Ridge, Denver and even the reliably conservative town of Craig in northwest Colorado have instituted life-saving mask laws with virtually no public disruptions.
Denver can do it. So can Aurora.
Since county officials have stepped away from the task, it’s up to Aurora City Council members to do the right thing. The city council is slated to meet Monday evening with Tri-County Health Department Executive Director Dr. John Douglas to discuss the science and benefits of a mandatory mask order. Since current mask orders across the metro area and the state have been enacted without problems, there is no valid reason for Aurora lawmakers to hide from the only logical choice on the issue.
Douglas and other experts have made clear, we are many months or longer from escaping the novel coronavirus. We must make sound, far-reaching decisions to protect our lives and our livelihoods. Those come only from sound reasoning based on solid facts and science. Caving into political pressure is the last thing anyone needs right now, even those who are currently exerting this needless pain.