Gov. Grisham causes superspreader event

-- Gov. causes panic by calling business restrictions a "lockdown."

-- The crowds at the stores on Friday and Saturday after the governor’s announcement is a clear indicator that the announcement itself is a super spreader event.

What has the governor and legislature been doing during the last seven months? Did they not anticipate that COVID might come surging back and they needed to have the state prepared? We now have a second lockdown (that’s not a real lockdown), but this time no assistance in place to help those that will be losing their paychecks. Why? They had seven months since the last business shutdowns, did they think COVID was just going to go away (if they listened to Trump that would be an excuse, but I don’t think Governor Grisham listens to him)? And this falls upon the GOP too, never in the last seven months did I once hear Steve Pearce say publicly that the governor and legislature should convene for a special session to set aside an emergency fund. On this, both political parties have failed New Mexicans.

The governor now says she will do a special session for emergency funding to help businesses and employees impacted by her current business shutdown order. A little late don’t you think? This funding should have been in place back in July, as a rainy-day fund to protect those most vulnerable. But? that didn’t happen.

So maybe a special session gets some funding out by the first of 2021, maybe. A big maybe. That doesn’t feed families now. It doesn’t pay the heating bill, now. It doesn’t pay rent, now. It doesn’t pay insurance, now. I know these are trying times and I give MLG a lot of praise for many decisions she has made, but not preparing an emergency fund, for businesses and out of work employees, to live off of is a colossal failure on her part and on the part of the legislature. We all knew another business shutdown was going to happen again, didn’t we? MLG used her weekly briefings to threaten to “lockdown” again if necessary, so why didn’t she prepare for it?

Doesn’t it defeat the purpose of restricting businesses, when you announce it with incorrect terminology and within minutes hundreds of citizens (who already have a garage full of toilet paper) run out to Costco and stand in line for something they just know they need during the next two weeks, because, well it’s a “lockdown?” This is where the governor and media must stop fanning the flames of fear. Their terminology is wrong. Wuhan China had a lockdown. New Mexico has business restrictions. Big difference.

There needs to be some scientific research into the stupidity of the human race and how we can draft announcements so that the stupidity is erased. The crowds outside of these stores were a sign that humans are scared lemmings. I mean, how much bottled water do you need when during the last restrictions you already bought 50 cases? The crowds at the stores on Friday and Saturday after the governor’s announcement is a clear indicator that the announcement itself is a super spreader event. I repeat, the way the governor announced this new set of restrictions was wrong and only created panic with the public. MLG created her own super spreader event by spreading the wrong message. We are not in a lockdown. You can shop, get gas, pick up dinner etc. We have restrictions, not lockdowns. The message is the problem here.

And if we are trying to reduce the number of people in a store (and standing outside of it) why make the stores close early? Wouldn’t it be much better to allow the stores to stay open later, longer? That way those shoppers who like to shop late, can do so without standing in line with hundreds of others? Forcing everyone to do any shopping within a small set of hours flies in the face of trying to reduce the number of people in stores at one time. I think the stores should be allowed to stay open longer and the governor should impress upon people to shop in the hours that are not busy.

One thing I think the governor should do is put teeth into this latest announcement on restricting gatherings. If mega-church pastors want to defy her order, let them do so with no electricity and a hefty citation. If my gym gets cited for being open, then a church shouldn’t be able to cram their pews full. Most small businesses have complied with her orders, it’s time she makes an example of those who won’t.

Is it right to punish businesses, again, when clearly it is the home gathering and trip taking that is running this pandemic up and up. MLG should leave the business restrictions alone and instead focus enforcement on gatherings. No warnings either. If NMSP shows up at your kid’s birthday party and there are more than 5 people there, someone needs a citation. I know of a person whose entire family was infected because a family member from Texas stopped overnight on the way to a wedding in Arizona. They all tested positive for COVID within days. I know of people who have held parties in their homes. When I remind these folks that there is a pandemic, they just shrug like it’s no big deal.

It’s no big deal until your parents are dying for breath in the hallway at a hospital that is overflowing, and you are not allowed in to see them.

Final thought, is it time for the governor to restrict casual traffic between Las Cruces and El Paso? El Paso is now the worse city in the world for COVID infections, yet you can hope on I25 and drive there, spend the day and drive back to Las Cruces. Maybe the governor should set up a two-week roadblock on I25 for traffic coming into New Mexico from El Paso. If it’s not business-related you don’t get to come until El Paso infections drop. If you want to drive to El Paso from New Mexico for a casual outing, know that you might not be allowed back until El Paso gets better. Sure, this sounds harsh, but we have the worse city in the world on our southern border with no serious travel restrictions in place. Why not governor?

This second time our governor and legislature need to immediately set aside money as an emergency fund to assist those who are going to be out of work. Do it now governor, don’t wait. And the rest of us need to knock off the whining about how horrible it is not to have Halloween, or Thanksgiving, or whatever whiney thing you want to do. Could you imagine if John McCain whined like that during his time as a POW? Or how about our grandparents who struggled to feed themselves during the Depression and had to ration during WWII? We have become a society of whiners, it’s time to stop and grow the hell up and smarten the hell up.