Protesters with body bags at the state Capitol say it’s too soon to relax health precautions.
‘Body bags’ part of protest of stay-home order repeal
More than 20 body bags representing victims of the coronavirus pandemic lined the lawn of the Arizona state Capitol on Tuesday.
The socially distant protest was organized by Indivisible Phoenix, a grassroots movement, to ask Gov. Doug Ducey to reconsider his decision to lift the state’s stay-at-home order.
The stay-at-home order was originally extended through May 15. However, on May 4, Ducey said he spotted a downward trend and adjusted the order, allowing some non-essential businesses and restaurants to reopen.
“We need to properly combat the spread of coronavirus so that we can ensure a safe reopening of businesses, public spaces and schools so we don’t wind up with another 532 body bags,” said Sharli Schaitberger, a retired health care safety professional who attended the protest.
Fewer than a dozen protesters were there, a move Schaitberger said was deliberate.
“We wanted to make it something quick and small that could allow proper social distancing,” she said. “We wanted our message about staying at home to stay consistent and how could we do that with a huge crowd?”
Schaitberger earned her degree in microbiology with an emphasis in immunology. Her 20-year career in hospital safety entailed studying hazardous materials, infectious diseases and pandemic planning.
“A pandemic like this was always a given to those of us on the front lines, so we would teach and talk all day long with people about what we were going to do and how we would protect ourselves,” she said. “Now, it seems like that didn’t even matter because we have a government that is not even listening to the recommendations of the World
Health Organization.”
Due to “government negligence,” Schaitberger said the COVID-19 death toll is worse than she could have ever predicted. However, she said it’s hard to say just how far off statistics are when reservations are being “excluded” from the counts.
The statewide data shows Native Americans make up 18% of those who have died from COVID-19, among cases for which race and ethnicity are known. That suggests Native Americans may be dying at a rate far greater than their presence in the overall population. But state officials have suppressed testing data from ZIP codes
“We need to properly combat the spread of coronavirus ... so we don’t wind up with another
532 body bags.”
Sharli Schaitberger Demonstrator
where more than 50% of the population is tribal residents.
Cat Castañeda, a Let People Vote organizer, said she came to represent the lives lost on tribal lands.
“These body bags also represent those on the reservations who have no running water, no serious health care and no way to get away from this,” Castañeda said. “I just wish the people in our government would pay more attention them, but instead they are looking the other way every chance they get. It’s not fair.” Out of every factor “stacked against the tribes,” testing is where Castañeda said the playing field is the most uneven.
“People want to go back to work, yes, but they want to do it safely,” she said. “Sitting there in Washington, we have a regime that is so afraid they test themselves on a daily basis, but won’t make that available to the people who want to go back to work — the people who have to go back to work.”
Elise Villescaz, a high school teacher in Gilbert who comes from four generations of educators, said the pandemic is not only further highlighting the “inequities of the nation’s health care systems,” but also inequities in the public education system.
“Our classrooms are overloaded. Our students are overwhelmed, feeling disconnected, alone. The single most common feedback I am receiving from my students is that they miss the relationships and sense of community they find from school.”
Through tears, Villescaz exclaimed she is “sick with worry” because of the economic disadvantage Arizona schools faced even before the outbreak began.
“Our school and our students are part of the economy, too,” she said. “In Arizona, public school funding hasn’t even caught up from the last recession, and here we are now facing another one . ... We can’t build a brighter future by investing in corporations only.”
Ultimately, Villescaz said she will keep showing up to events such as Tuesday’s protest for one simple reason: “Giving up is not an option.”
“We have to show up for our students, our doctors, our tribes and our friends,” Villescaz said. “To everyone showing up: I love you. Thank you for your dreams. Thank you for your fight.”