Proposed Ordinance 1293 ~ my comments
I offer my input about why I oppose this well intentioned ordinance as you debate Ordinance 1293 "REGARDING THE USE OF FACE COVERINGS BY EMPLOYEES AND CUSTOMERS WHEN INSIDE PLACES OF BUSINESS AND BY ALL MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC WHEN IN PUBLIC PLACES."
I have studied the data provided by New Mexico on its public web sites. I also have the detailed data for every state since each started reporting COVID19 stats, and I have studied the governor's orders, the state's plan, and their gating criteria.
I am a strong believer in social distancing, face mask usage, as well as hygiene. I am not a medical professional; I cannot offer medical advice; so these are my personal opinions.
First, some general background:
The USA is approximately 4% of the world's population but has over 20% of the COVID19 world deaths.
Whereas New Mexico has a case-to-test positivity of approximately 2%, well below the common gating criterion of 5% maximum, and the New Mexico Rt (similar to R0) has been less than 1.0 for the last month; a common gating criterion is 1% maximum. Comparing neighboring states: New Mexico shines with lowest cases and deaths per 100,000 compared to our neighbors:-
Cases per 100,000 (7 day average as of 8/22/20)
AZ 2706 NM 1122 TX 1890
Deaths per 100,000
AZ 63 NM 34 TX 35
There have been six New Mexico business employee Rapid Response events in Grant County, with four in Silver City. Silver City is 0.2% of the state Rapid Response total.
7/4/2020 Tyrone: A Mine
7/17/2020 Silver City A service business
7/22/2020 Silver City A Learning establishment (2 cases)
7/22/2020 Silver City A large store
7/25/2020 Santa Clara A Medical Center
8/12/2020 Silver City A salon
This and other data suggests New Mexico is doing very well and Silver City even better.
Silver City's current COVID19 compliance, our spread out town, and our low travel activity suggest a present and continuing risk lower than the rest of the state.
While in one month the Silver City cases went from 25 to 49 cases per day, an increase of about half a case a day, the number of cases has since leveled off.
I oppose this ordinance on a number of grounds.
The ordinance has no procedure to end the mask requirement, nor to restart it, based on the governor's current or future health orders. So, do we to wear masks forever?
The ordinance does not address social distancing, an equally major factor in transmission.
The ordinance requires face masks when running in public, and when conducting outdoor physical activities such as exercising and sports. CDC guidance currently says "Masks may be challenging for players (especially younger players) to wear while playing sports. Masks should be worn by coaches, youth sports staff, officials, parents, and spectators as much as possible." Has this ordinance element been studied in this light?
I have looked carefully at the large stores over the last few weeks in Silver City and observed a high degree of compliance with both masks and social distancing. Compliance with masks in parking lots is lower however social distancing is generally maintained. In smaller businesses the compliance is good but not quite as high. Why legislate something that is already being done?
Emotions run high on any government mandate. Silver City police have built a good reputation which can be tarnished with mask enforcement, a highly divisive topic. Many consider the mask guidance to be state overreach, so let State Police enforce the state's orders, and keep our officers out of this issue.
In that vein, the state has been very inconsistent in its orders and guidance, so on that point alone I suggest the state handle enforcement and not the Town. Examples of state order inconsistencies would be the liquor store anomaly, the plant nursery anomaly, the brewery versus winery anomaly, the use of different data for decisions than the state publishes, the state creating five regions yet insisting the entire state moves as one, having opening but no closing criteria (they need to be different), subjectively waiting for the gating criteria to exist for an unspecified time, and so on.
Compliance comes from people buying into the problem as well as accepting proposed solutions.
Silver City has a very high compliance rate. I believe this proposed ordinance fixes a problem we do not have, and may polarize the community further while not improving personal compliance nor reduce viral transmission rates. It duplicates the actions that State Police are better equipped to handle.
Simon Wheaton-Smith
former Town Councilor District 3 Silver City
REFERENCES
NM
https://cvprovider.nmhealth.org/public-dashboard.html
https://covidtracking.com/data/state/new-mexico
https://coronavirususamap.com/
https://www.env.nm.gov/nmed-resources-for-covid-19/
AZ
https://coronavirususamap.com/
https://www.maricopa.gov/5594/School-Metrics
https://covidtracking.com/data/state/arizona
Rt
https://epiforecasts.io/covid/posts/national/united-states/
USA
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/cases-updates/cases-in-us.html
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/schools-childcare/youth-sports.html