There was an interesting tidbit in the announcement Gov. Mike Dunleavy made about the reopening of Alaska. On one of the slides in his presentation there was the statement “The success of remaining open now lies fully in the hands of Alaskans." This seemly innocuous phrase is the culmination of a game of pass-the-buck that was started by the President of the United States and has finally ended with us, the citizens.
The near abdication of responsibility for the safety of Alaskans by the governor should be something that catches your attention and makes you a little mad. There are, of course, some obvious steps the state could take that would help keep us safe: mandate the use of face masks, enforce a 14-day quarantine for visitors in a secure location and require business to offer hand sanitizer. None of these mitigation efforts have been mandated; they are merely recommended (or poorly enforced).
Also, there are some important questions that were not addressed during the announcement: Is the contact tracing team prepared to reopen? What is the maximum number of cases they can handle? Do we have enough tests? Do hospitals have the capacity and PPE to deal with a large outbreak? How many people need to be infected before we revisit restrictions? Unfortunately, by the Governor’s own admission, reopening of the state is not being based on our ability to control this virus. Rather, as he stated, we are reopening because “numbers are consistently low." This point is near-meaningless when it comes to a disease that can move exponentially. To give you a sense of how rare and dangerous it is, the only other phenomenon we deal with that acts exponentially is gravity. In a matter of weeks, the case count can increase tenfold.
That is why you should be a annoyed when the governor tries to hand the buck to you. This idea was reiterated by governor at the end of his announcement when he said, “In the end, it’s not going to be the state that makes this successful, it’s going to be individual Alaskans…” Translation: We will not be held accountable for the pain, suffering, and death this virus will cause. The virus will inevitably resurge, either now or in the fall, and our ability to control it is unknown. If it does overwhelm us, it will be sad to see all the time we have sacrificed wasted. There will be wringing of hands and gnashing of teeth but, as the governor has made clear, the blame will lie fully in the hands of Alaskans.
Matthew Schmitz
Anchorage
Have something on your mind? Send to letters@adn.com or click here to submit via any web browser. Letters under 200 words have the best chance of being published. Writers should disclose any personal or professional connections with the subjects of their letters. Letters are edited for accuracy, clarity and length.