As we confront an alarming spike in coronavirus cases, the experts keep telling us that wearing masks is our most effective tool to reduce the spread of what is now a worsening pandemic.
Unfortunately, our governor seems to lack the fortitude and the foresight to act while there’s still time to make a difference.
His inaction left the decision on whether to require masks be worn in public – or at least when indoors in public places – to our county leaders, particularly the elected commissioners charged with protecting us from harm.
They, too, have shrunk from their responsibility.
When it mattered most – when presented with an opportunity to take the bold action necessary to address this frightening surge in infections in our community last week – they did nothing.
The record will show that County Administrator Jason Brown, after consulting with the commissioners, issued an emergency order that requires employees who serve the public in restaurants and stores to wear masks.
The record also will show that the mask mandate does not apply to the general public, except when the public visits county facilities. It also does not apply to municipalities in the county, which were free to embrace or reject the order.
What the record won’t show, however, is that Brown sounded almost apologetic in announcing his latest emergency order, although there’s no way to know whether his tone reflected his disappointment over not being able to go beyond the commission’s wishes or that the new mandate was even necessary.
Remember: As county administrator, Brown is empowered to issue such orders during declared emergencies, but he answers to the commissioners, who presumably answer to their constituents. So, there’s plenty of blame to go around.
By any measure, though, the employees-only order was an empty gesture, given that most local restaurants and stores already were requiring their employees to be masked.
This feeble response to the recent spike in COVID-19 cases was as gutless as it was reckless, a shameful display in a time of crisis and a stubborn refusal to embrace a harmless policy that all the experts say would make a difference.
America is under attack, and we’re not pulling together as a nation and rallying to the cause. We’re not looking out for each other. We’re not willing to make the sacrifices needed to achieve victory.
When the patriots of our Greatest Generation marched, sailed and flew into combat in World War II, those who supported the effort at home endured curfews, rationing and other hardships. But they were too focused on winning to waste time and energy whining about any incursion on their individual liberty.
They were more concerned about the greater good, and they’d be ashamed of us now, especially when we’re being asked to do so little.
Yet, too many of our fellow citizens – too many of our neighbors – still refuse to wear the masks we know will reduce infections, save lives and, ultimately, fend off this deadly invader until a vaccine comes to our rescue.
Even here in Vero Beach, where we take so much pride in our small-town charm and folksy feel, you’ll encounter people who stubbornly argue that their right to go mask-less is more important than the health of the community.
Fact is, merely making masks mandatory wouldn’t ensure that everyone would wear them, but history tells us it would sway public opinion and convince more of us to do so, just as seat-belt laws did in the 1980s.
Several Florida counties – including Orange, Palm Beach, Dade and Pinellas – already have responded to the spike in virus cases by issuing orders requiring masks be worn in public.
How can our county leaders shrug off the daunting numbers we are seeing here?
From Monday through Sunday last week, the Florida Department of Health reported 266 new COVID-19 cases in the county. That was more than 40 percent of the total cases here since March – in only seven days.
The number of new cases jumped from 22 on Thursday to 62 on Friday, the day Brown announced his new emergency order. There were 79 new cases reported Saturday.
Statewide, the FDOH reported nearly 9,000 new cases Friday, when Gov. Ron DeSantis finally relented and ordered all stand-alone bars to stop serving alcohol, and nearly 9,600 more on Saturday, which marked the third time in four days Florida broke its single-day record for COVID-19 cases.
More than 8,500 new cases were reported Sunday.
“The trend is very troubling,” Brown said Friday at the county’s weekly news conference, later adding, “We owe it to our elderly and vulnerable populations to do what we can as citizens and neighbors and good human beings to reduce the chance of infecting our most vulnerable residents.”
It was the perfect setup for the advertised “major announcement,” which should have been a countywide order requiring all of us – exempting those with relevant medical issues, of course – to wear masks in public.
Then, with the commissioners’ blessing, he announced he wouldn’t be doing all that much.
Instead of stepping forward and taking the decisive action we needed, our county leaders wilted under pressure and settled for a half-hearted, employees-only mask order that will have no real impact and another plea for “voluntary compliance” from the general public.
In the meantime, our county leaders are betting on a longshot – that the spike slows considerably this week – so they won’t need to do more.
They’re gambling with the health of our community.