Virus outbreaks spur debate over personal freedoms
U.S. health officials warn being lax about masks will have consequences
PHOENIX— When the coronavirus flared in China this week, the country cancelled flights, suspended reopenings and described the situation as “extremely grave.” But with cases rising in some U.S. states, local officials have balked at even requiring people to wear masks.
In the United States, which has the most confirmed cases and deaths in the world, authorities wrestled Wednesday with balancing demands for constitutional rights and personal freedom with warnings from health officials that being lax will have deadly consequences.
China responded to a new outbreak in Beijing by scrapping more than 60 per cent of its flights to the capital, cancelling classes and strengthening requirements for social distancing. It was a sharp retreat for the nation that declared victory over COVID-19 in March.
“This has truly rung an alarm bell for us,” Party Secretary Cai Qi told a meeting of Beijing’s Communist party standing committee.
China’s actions follow about 137 new cases, a fraction of the number some U.S. states see each day. In Arizona, more than 1,100 people visited emergency rooms on Tuesday alone with positive or suspected cases. Alabama also is running out of hospital space, stirring impassioned debate over a mask requirement. Other states that haven’t mandated face coverings, like Texas and Florida, are seeing infections soar.
With masks becoming a political symbol, Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden has taken aim at U.S. President Donald Trump’s approach to the pandemic.
“Donald Trump wants to style himself as a wartime president. Unlike any other wartime leader, he takes no responsibility, he exercises no leadership, now he has just flat surrendered the fight,” Biden said Wednesday.
Biden has worn a mask repeatedly at public events, while Trump hasn’t, even on occasions such as touring auto factory floors when they are required. Aides say Trump believes they’re unflattering and that wearing one projects weakness.
The mask debate is playing out countrywide, notably in hard-hit states where face coverings have become a political and cultural debate.
Hundreds of medical professionals signed a letter urging
Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey to require them. On Wednesday, the Republican said the state will allow local governments to make policies on masks.
Ducey, who wore a mask to a news conference but took it off before speaking, said counties had vastly different rates of infection.
“For some things, a statewide directive or executive order works very well,” he said. “If you have 12 or 13 counties that say ‘pound sand’ on an executive order ... it’s a self-defeating executive order.”
Ducey has resisted new restrictions on businesses, saying it would be up to mayors to enforce use of masks and attributing Arizona’s surge in cases to increased testing. The state has been doing more tests, which can yield more cases, but health experts say a better way to see if more people are getting sick is to look at the percentage of positive tests. When that percentage rises, it means the outbreak is worsening — not just that more people are getting tested.
Arizona has the nation’s highest seven-day average positive test rate: 17.7 per cent, or about double the national average and well above the 10 per cent threshold that health officials find worrisome. It also has the most new cases per capita in the U.S. in the past 14 days. The state’s leading hospital system says it’s almost running out of beds.
The same thing is happening in parts of Florida, where people under 35 are testing positive at a higher rate since the pandemic began, contributing to a surge in cases, officials said Wednesday.
The coastal city of St. Petersburg had three popular bars close after employees tested positive, and it’s now requiring workers who have contact with the public to wear masks — which some hard-hit cities in southern Florida have been doing for weeks.
Mayor Rick Kriseman said he also plans to require people to cover their faces in businesses and other public spaces.
“We can wear a mask, protect others and ourselves, or we can contribute to someone’s death. Maybe even our own,” Kriseman said.
The Democrat said Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis has encouraged people to use masks but not mandated them.
DeSantis said he has no intention of closing Florida’s economy again despite the statewide spike in new cases, which topped 1,000 Wednesday for the 15th consecutive day. He said many of those getting sick are young and unlikely to suffer serious illness or death.
In Montgomery, Ala., where cases are spiking, the issue of masks erupted during a city council meeting, where members rejected a proposal to mandate them at public gatherings of 25 or more.
Dr. Bill Saliski, a lung specialist at Jackson Hospital in Montgomery, called on the city to pass a mask requirement and declared: “If this continues the way we’re going, we’re going to be overrun.”
Some city leaders voiced concern about trampling on people’s rights. “I think to make somebody do something or require somebody to wear something is an overreach,” councilman Brantley Lyons said.
Since the virus emerged in China late last year and spread worldwide, there have been more than 8.3 million confirmed cases and over 447,000 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University. Experts say the true toll is much higher. The U.S. death toll has exceeded 117,000.