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BELL: More to the closures then people realize

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Maybe I can give the recent letter writers information about the closures at Sun City West that isn’t apparent in their letters.

Our general manager didn’t make the decisions without guidance from the appropriate state officials and from infections disease experts. That doesn’t make him a dictator, nor a chooser of who gets to use rec center facilities. He’s followed the guidelines — that’s all. To castigate him for doing what he’s been directed to do isn’t right at all. If the governor tells restaurants and sports facilities to close, our GM’s going to do that.

Golfers get a break, but not because the GM said so — the governor designated golf courses as “essential businesses.” The governor could have said the same thing about other activities that are outdoors, but he did not, so our GM did not either. What he does and why are reported in the Rec Center News online every week. This is not “unconstitutional” behavior, nor “tyranny.” This is the implementation of public health policy for the good of everyone.

There’s been lots of commentary about “the numbers.” The state health agency collects information from the counties. Most of it is old by the time it gets published. That information is incomplete and sometimes wrong. But there’s no way for us to know whether it is. I’m sure all of us would like to know how many cases of COVID-19 have occurred in our retirement centers, like Grandview Terrace, or the rehabilitation centers in the community, but that information isn’t reported!

So don’t blame the messenger when the message is incomplete.

As for knowing someone who actually has COVID-19, I’m not sure about that. Because if you do, maybe you’ve been in their presence and had a chance to become infected. If you do, it’s likely you could be a source of the infection for others, whether you feel fine or not.

Wearing a mask when you go to the grocery store is a protective measure for you and me. So is social distancing. In other words, you are protecting yourself and others during the pandemic. Are you doing that? Or are you exposing yourself and then others?

Then again, maybe you should learn how to play golf.

Thomas Bell

Sun City West