Phased approach to reopening a good idea

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham and her administration have made a good move in the fight against the pandemic – creating a phased approach that allows counties to reopen for business based on reduced coronavirus cases and positivity rates.

This county-by-county approach would have been a good move for the governor to take before the fall when the predicted surge in cases began. Where each county falls in the red-yellow-green levels is based on positive cases per capita and positivity rates – the number of positives divided by the total tests, multiplied by 100 percent. When the rate is high, like it is in Taos right now, it can mean, too, the virus is spreading quickly. It can also mean too few people have been tested.

The red, yellow or green phase for each county puts the onus squarely on local governments and residents to get their houses in order if they want to help their economies and return to some semblance of normalcy.

Taos County was doing well keeping the number of cases low until October. But a wave of cases, largely in Taos, Ranchos de Taos and El Prado areas, have put the county’s overall positivity rate as of Nov. 23 at 13 percent and the cases per 100,000 population at 77 over a two-week period. The county will have to get the cases down to less than 3 cases per day and the positivity rate down to less then 5 percent to get a green light that will allow businesses to serve more customers indoors.

A story this week by Taos News reporter Will Hooper details more about the Red to Green requirements from the state.

This phased approach is evaluated for each county every two weeks. The governor’s requirements under the phased approach lasts until Dec. 30 when the system will be evaluated.

This approach is better than treating all counties across the state the same. Each is different, just as each town is different. Providing a way to reward counties and businesses as they clamp down on the virus is a good incentive.

Even as the town, county and state wrestle with this pandemic, there must be in the back of some minds another sobering thought: What happens if another novel virus comes along in a year or two? Will we have learned enough from this one to know how to protect public health without crippling economies? Do we always need to stay prepared to shut down? Do we, even after this pandemic eases, keep practicing a level of remote work and school?

Because as sure as the sun rises in the east, there will be other new and deadly viruses.

Before that happens, it is worth keeping tabs during this pandemic on what works best, what fails miserably and how to keep economies and public health systems viable even in the face of new diseases. One failed policy learned from the current pandemic is putting in place restrictions to protect public health, but which penalize local small businesses while allowing online companies like Amazon and big box stores to operate largely unimpeded.