Opinion: Restrictions lifted; virus decisions ours

Let us make our own decisions, we said.

We can be responsible, we said.

And so, just in time for Memorial Day weekend, after two months with much of the state, as well as the nation, in government lockdown, we were essentially freed to do what we said we didn’t need no stinkin’ government to do for us.

We were allowed to protect ourselves from the coronavirus as we see fit. As we should have been since the first case was confirmed this winter.

Based on the crowds at the outdoor recreation areas and the restaurants and the George Floyd protests from coast to coast, we’ve mostly decided that, since we have a choice, we’ll not take any action to protect ourselves. Because that’s our right.

Yes, there are still some supposed “rules” in place — everybody in New Mexico must wear a mask, retailers, churches and restaurants are all limited to 25 or 50 percent of fire-code capacity, and mass gatherings of more than 100 people are prohibited.

But has anybody seen a cop anywhere trying to enforce any of those rules lately?

Anybody?

Most of us have acknowledged the virus can be life-threatening for people who already have health problems, but many of us have declared that’s their problem — they need to stay home if they’re afraid.

Handshakes and hugs are coming back in style; social distancing is so yesterday.

Masks? We heard some politicians say masks might be dangerous to wear, so we’re ignoring the opinions of the medical professionals because masks are sooooo uncomfortable.

This is America. We are free to do what we want.

This space has for two months been critical of Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham for issuing the public health orders that closed small businesses and forced everyone to cram into big-box stores.

April 12: Those orders “are not well-reasoned and won’t stand up to scrutiny when this is over.” And: “Our government’s ‘aggressive public health actions to mitigate the spread of the disease’ are only favoring some businesses over others; they’re not necessarily preventing anyone from getting sick.”

April 19: “Government is out of control, ordering us to do things just to see how far we’re willing to go before revolution.”

May 17: “To be clear, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s one-size-fits-all commandments have been irresponsible and devastating to small business owners who may never recover from her stay-home orders.” There was a reference to the governor’s Gestapo in that editorial as well.

And so there won’t be any backing down now. Government has no authority to order us to stay home or stay well. If we don’t want to, we don’t have to.

Just one thing: It’s starting to look like coronavirus numbers are rising again — the average number of cases has been increasing by more than 100,000 per day worldwide over the last seven days. That never happened in April.

Locally? Curry County has gone from 51 positive cases to 62 in the past week; it had 17 cases on May 1. Roosevelt County went from nine cases on May 1 to 42 as of Saturday morning. Parmer County, just across the railroad tracks about 8 miles from Clovis, has gone from eight cases on May 1 to 88 on Saturday. And Bailey County next door to Parmer had zero cases on May 1 but 24 as of Saturday; Muleshoe Area Medical Clinic announced on Wednesday that eight of its employees had recently tested positive for the virus.

Maybe the numbers reflect increased testing. Probably, there’s a connection.

Either way, we’ve been warned. We are free to do what we want with that information.

— David Stevens

Publisher