The lack of role modeling among our community’s leadership — the wearing of protective face coverings in public settings — was made evident during a recent groundbreaking event for the Rose Mountains Townhomes that took place on June 25. As portrayed in a photograph published by the weekly Pagosa Springs SUN newspaper, seven of the eight individuals did not wear a mask, nor did they appear to practice social distancing during a ground-breaking ceremony.
Also, for the July 4th holiday, a number of events were on display downtown. One of these, “Park 2 Park” took place without the vote of the Chamber of Commerce board members, resulting in the resignation of its latest board member.
Thank you to Stephanie Wagner for rising above the clear lack of common sense and instead, bravely upholding her ethical values and speaking the truth in such an articulate manner:
It is unrealistic and in my mind, irresponsible, to hold a large public event and merely request that attendees wear face coverings and social distance. Even by June 4th, it was evident that our visitors were ignoring these simple guidelines. But what caused me to render my resignation was the expectation that the board members “rubber stamp” anything proposed by a subcommittee or the director. Not being given even 24 hours, no call for discussion of reservations by board members, and not calling for a vote on something this important is outrageous and something I cannot ethically be a part of. I care too much about the health of our community members to condone such practices and holding large public gatherings without much more stringent measures.
Respectfully and Regrettably, Stephanie Wagner
— from the Pagosa Springs Sun, July 2, 2020.
While masks and social distancing were encouraged by the Chamber of Commerce, a photographic essay of these events will tell the reader more than any words could. Please take a moment to look and count the number of individuals, including elderly veterans, who were wearing a mask or respecting social distance, as shown in a recent Daily Post photo essay by Jeff Laydon.
Encouraging, requesting, strongly recommending, is not nearly enough. Merely doing so is not securing civil and respectful social behavior that is vitally essential to all, to our survival. Yet, and during a follow up town council meeting that took place on July 7 with the same format (i.e., no presentations from health experts, only allowed opinion), a final resolution was adopted. (In his Daily Post editorial, Bill Hudson reported on the meeting here.)
In sum, at the present time Pagosa Springs does not have a mandate to make the safety and future of its citizens and visitors a priority. The new resolution simply “strongly encourages” face coverings and makes a couple of requests, noted in Mr. Hudson’s article.
My heartfelt intention in writing this piece is not to detail the plethora of scientific and medical reasons to wear a mask, to practice social distancing, to wash hands frequently, or anything else that would be essential to reduce the transmission of this very contagious and indiscriminately dangerous virus. For starters, Virology or Infectious Diseases fall well outside my scope of practice. Furthermore, I personally view this medical field as one of the most complex and challenging in the health sciences.
However, I like to read from direct scientific sources such as the World’s Health Organization, the Centers for Disease Control, Johns Hopkins’ newsletter and dashboard, and many more. Information related to this virus has been made abundantly known world wide from its onset and continues to pour out with recent discoveries and developments to benefit all. The US saw its first travel-related COVID-19 case on January 21 in the state of Washington. It is truly disturbing to observe the intense degree of denial and downright self-entitled attitudes displayed by so many of our own leaders at a national level and cascading down into our small town. Very disturbing, and also tragically sad.
The US had the benefit, the privilege, and yes, the very good luck of being affected by this virus much later than Asia, Europe, Australia or New Zealand. By the time infections took off with exponential growth in Washington, California, and New York, the US had the vantage point of learning about COVID-19’s evolution, fatality rate, risk factors, mutations, treatments, and actions to undertake in order to reduce and contain its transmission as the virus moved westerly across the globe. The US had the luxury of time, to be prepared and ready to act appropriately and rationally.
It appears the exact opposite has occurred, in light of the three-and-a-quarter million of confirmed cases and holding the tragic record of the highest number of deaths in the world. Rather than listening to health experts and heeding their advice, scientific information has been and continues to be dismissed, twisted, denied, and politicized. These irresponsible actions only appear to serve personal interests of a greedy, immature and reckless nature. Such actions also further reinforce the divisions and hostilities in this already deeply divided nation and at the expense of human lives.
For updated information on cases and deaths around the world, visit the John Hopkins University website.
At this very moment, California has 319,508 confirmed cases; Florida has 269,811; Texas shows 255,366; Arizona has 122,467; and Colorado owns 36,573. Not surprisingly, the number of cases are now growing in Pagosa Springs, with most new cases assigned to visitors. Yet, our state government continues to allow free travel without even demanding self-quarantines or mandatory testing? And our local government welcomes all with open arms without enforceable mandates for public safety.
Convince me that this is rational. It will be a disastrous, unforgivable mistake to take measures when forced to do so… when it is too late.
Ana M. Sancho Sama, PhD, Licensed Psychologist, lives in Spain.