Arlington County Admits Current COVID Infection Rate Acceptable
Looks like we are waiting on a vaccine. Sorry Latino community, front line workers, schoolchildren.
If you read an article about preventing the spread of COVID-19, you notice a theme: the virus spreads primarily through indoor contact.
If you watch an Arlington COVID-19 Town Hall, you notice a theme: avoid talking about the dangers of indoor spread at any cost.
At this point, we have watched four town halls. And it has become clear that Arlington County Board members have abdicated their responsibility to protect the public and are primarily interested in protecting business interests and serving their own political interests by not rocking the boat captained by Governor Northam.
Let’s examine the evidence.
The Town Halls Themselves
The town halls are always at 12:30 PM on a Friday - sorry, essential workers with a nine-to-five job! There is also no Spanish translator available, which is especially galling considering the Latino community is being hit the hardest by the virus. There are no transcripts made available, let alone transcripts translated into Spanish.
And despite the town halls’ billing as opportunities for the public to ask questions, the public does not actually get to ask questions. They can submit questions, and if they deign it worth a response, a Board member will paraphrase it and ask it to county staff, who may or may not actually answer the question. Sometimes they answer the questions themselves, which often leads to incomprehensible nonsense like this, from Matt de Ferranti:
“How can we ensure people wear masks on sidewalks or at least stay 6 feet apart? We just want to be really careful to stay six feet apart and if you know you will be in an area with a lot of foot traffic, you need to be wearing a mask. So that is an answer to that question"
We disagree, Matt. That is not an answer to that question. [might be prudent to pose the question prior to stating it did not answer the question]
The idea that these meetings constitute some kind of public engagement is a farce. Want more proof? Board member Takis Karantonis was given the opportunity to bring up one last question before the session ended. There were many unanswered questions in the chat to pick from. Instead, he chose to simply end the session.
What an insult to the people that took the time to tune in, submit their questions, and wait thirty minutes before they even got to the first question. Two of the questions above are from Adam Genest, the Chair of Arlington’s Emergency Preparedness Advisory Commission. Sorry Adam, Takis doesn’t think your questions are worth his time.
The “Stay The Course” Strategy
Last month we wrote that although they did not make it explicit, it appeared the Board considered the current level of infection acceptable. This has now been validated.
First, during the July 24th town hall, Libby Garvey confirmed that the County Board did not push back on the governor’s order to move Arlington County to Phase Three. She mentioned that they did push back on the previous two orders, which led to Arlington moving to Phase One and Phase Two later than Northam originally proposed.
This week, Public Health Director Dr. Reuben Varghese shared this graph. He hedged a bit, explaining that correlation does not always mean causation, but he was clearly making the case that Phase Three was responsible for the recent resurgence of infections.
So there you have it. Dr. Varghese told the Board that Phase Three has led to more infections, and the Board has confirmed they do not feel a need to push back on Phase Three.
Also, Dr. Varghese just came right out and said it:
“We are trying to keep it at this level here until a vaccine comes along”
It could be a year or more before we have a widely available vaccine. Is this really the plan? Allow the Latino community to bear the brunt of this for at least another year? Keep schools closed indefinitely? We deserve better than this.
The Ridiculous Anti-Line Ordinance
You know all those pictures of twenty-somethings waiting in line for The Lot, all packed together and mask-less? The ones that end up going semi-viral on Twitter and Facebook? Well, the County Board has found a solution to prevent such embarrassing photos: an absurd ordinance allowing cops to ticket you for being too close to another person. Chris Slatt, chair of the Arlington County Transportation Commission, did an excellent job of explaining just how dumb the new ordinance is. If the county actually cared about preventing the spread of COVID-19, they would worry about people congregating inside instead of outside.
This ordinance is performative policy-making intended to mask their inaction on indoor gatherings.
You know all those things we reopened? You shouldn’t do any of them.
It’s fine that indoor dining is open! But you should stay home. We lifted the ban on gatherings of 250 people or less - but you shouldn’t be going to any gatherings. The absurdist dance continues.
Libby Garvey even said that even though Arlington was in Phase Three, she was “personally” still in Phase Two. Must be nice for Libby, who can safely work from home. We wonder how she would “personally” stay in Phase Two if she worked in a restaurant. You don’t have a choice if you are a worker.
Putting Business Ahead Of The Public
Only once has the topic of indoor dining been brought up in the four town halls we have watched. Here is Matt de Ferranti with another gem:
"Why haven’t we done more to keep people from congregating in bars and restaurants? There is a governor’s order on that issue, and we have been seeking as a region to stay inline with our adjoining regions even as we are concerned”
Clear as mud once again. Thanks, Matt.
The mystifying refusal to talk about how the virus spreads primarily indoors becomes clearer when you think about the implications of admitting it. If you admit that indoor restaurant dining is unsafe, which it is, you admit that offices are also unsafe. It would certainly undermine the “Return to the Workplace Toolkit” the county partnered with the Chamber of Commerce to create!
And now you are threatening the profits of JBG Smith and the other heavy hitting members of the Chamber. We know from Freedom of Information Act requests that County Board members have cozy relationships with JBG Smith. Can you get Christian Dorsey to meet you for a cup of coffee and talk about your business? JBG Smith can.
Contrast that with the access Adam Genest has: he can’t even get the Board to consult the Emergency Preparedness Commission during a pandemic.
County Board members love to portray themselves as smart, empathic, and civic-minded folk that want make Arlington a better place for everyone to live. But the pandemic has exposed them for what they really are - business-first true believers who put the profits of business owners ahead of the welfare of the people. Even we here at the Spectator, who have been following Arlington politics long enough to not expect much out of the County Board, have been shocked by the willingness of Board members to degrade themselves with sham town halls and to pass an ordinance solely intended to prevent embarrassing viral photos.
Push back on the Governor’s orders. Close bars and indoor dining until we can open schools. Hold real town halls. Show some political courage and leadership.
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