Jumping the gun

It is truly disappointing that the

City Council of El Centro has blatantly disregarded federal and state recommendations, putting the health of local citizens at risk by opening up businesses prematurely. It should be deemed unethical for elected city officials to make decisions in order to help boost personal political agendas, to the detriment of the public health. There is no statistical evidence that proves that we are ready to reopen the city. Additionally, the city’s phasing plan timelines are unrealistic by implementing five days between phases and are contradictory to county and state public health officials’ recommendations. Is five days truly enough time in order to obtain valid data to continue on to the next phase? Not according to federal, state and local public officials,

And not even according to common sense. According to the Los Angeles Times’ coronavirus tracker, Imperial County is ranked second in the state with the most cases per 100,000 individuals, averaging 198.7 and only being surpassed by Los Angeles County. It is crucial that a phasing plan align with federal, state and local county public officials’ recommendations in order to help not only preserve lives, but to try to save the economy. Opening up non-essential buisness too soon will only help spread the virus and will further setback any attempt to return some kind of normalcy. As mentioned before, as a community we need to find a new “norm,” one in which we can adapt best practices aligned with social distancing.