My letter to Governor Ducey of Arizona.
Dear Governor Ducey –
3/16/2020
Let me start by complimenting you on yesterday’s decision to close Arizona Public Schools through March 27. Your decision, along with ASU’s action to transition to online tuition, remove large populations from the crowd risks posed by public assembly during the COVID-19 pandemic.
I believe that you should also consider issuing broader regulations that seek to limit public assembly regardless of the institution, wherever possible, and require all returning travelers from foreign lands to be screened upon re-entry to Arizona. Further, visits by relatives to elder care facilities should be strictly limited as they expose our most vulnerable citizens to infection.
We have all been reading about the process of ‘flattening the infection curve’, one which seeks to delay the onset of infection and better control the spread of that infection once it is identified. Waiting for infection and death, the way some nations have, is exactly wrong. Along with aggressive testing and quarantine approaches, nations like South Korea are showing that flattening the curve is a real possibility. We must act likewise now, not when all those nascent infections in our population are eventually disclosed.
One dismaying aspect of public behavior throughout the United States has been the practice of hoarding groceries and essential supplies. A visit to any Phoenix or Scottsdale area supermarket discloses that this practice is common here, one which is contrary to the concept of ‘pulling together’ and alien to the American Way. Hoarding substitutes greed and selfishness for community spirit, is counterproductive and unnecessary. It also hurts the oldest, those least able to participate in this aggressive, anti-social behavior.
Some examples.
American hens have been producing adequate supply of eggs for American consumers since we won WW2. Hoarding a staple with a short shelf life makes no sense.
American paper manufacturers have seen to it that adequate supplies of toilet paper have been available over a like period, maintaining Americans’ high standards of hygiene. Yet visit your local grocery store and they are out.
The situation is identical for hand sanitizer and on and on.
Yet the solution is surpassingly simple. Simply require supermarkets to limit purchases per shopper. I note that the AJs chain in Scottsdale has adopted this approach and many essentials remain available on their shelves. However, other major chains like Safeway and Bashas have not, and their shelves are empty of essential goods. Trying to directly control shopper behavior, the behavior of those ‘fellow Americans’ of mine who think only of themselves, is impossible. But placing requirements on supermarkets to limit purchases by customers is easy and comes at negligible fiscal cost. Add a complaints hot line for whistle blowers and a low cost solution presents itself.
Mr. Governor, for this senior citizen to visit a supermarket and find that staples like eggs and lettuce are unavailable is unconscionable. 15.9% of Arizonans are senior citizens, the tenth highest for any state. These Arizonans are the most threatened sector of the population who most require that hand sanitizer and the protein in that missing egg. I urge you to implement these simple, low cost requirements as soon as possible.
Finally, a recent study published by the New York Times discloses that the supermarket cashier is one of the highest risk centers for dissemination of viral infection. In a week of eight hour shifts I calculate that a check-out cashier has over 3,000 unique person-to-person contacts with shoppers, all within infection range. That’s far more than any school teacher or college professor. Yet I have not seen one of these risk centers wearing protective gloves or masks. Please consider making this a requirement, one which carries little cost and brings potentially great benefits in mitigating the spread of infection.
Please consider implementing my suggested measures as part of your fight against COVID-19 and thank you again for the great work you are doing.
Thomas Pindelski
Scottsdale