PHOENIX — Gov. Doug Ducey is telling cities and counties to fully open their parks to all comers this Easter weekend or face consequences.
In a sharply worded letter Friday, Ducey told Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego that Phoenix’s decision to close city parks Saturday and Sunday to large gatherings violates state law.
Ducey’s argument is that he assumed some absolute powers when he declared a pandemic emergency, and that those powers allow him to order reopening of parks and other facilities.
Beyond that, Ducey said his order is consistent with guidelines issued by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Ignoring those recommendations is “irrational,” he said.
The letter was not just a complaint. Ducey said that, based on his emergency powers, he is “demanding” the city open its parks.
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But this is bigger than a spat between the Republican governor and the Democratic mayor. Gubernatorial press aide C.J. Karamargin said Friday that all communities must have their parks fully open this weekend, with no restrictions.
And if they do not? “All options are on the table,” Karamargin said.
So far, though, Tucson is keeping its already announced Easter restrictions at city parks. Those include closure of the large ramadas — small and medium ramadas were open for reservations — and required masks where physical distancing is not possible. Tucson also asks people not to gather in groups larger than 10 at its parks.
Screaming thrill-seekers are once again allowed to ride the Giant Dipper roller coaster at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk.
Ducey also is setting the stage to have someone to blame if there is a post-Easter increase in COVID-19 cases.
He argued that, in keeping large family gatherings out of parks, Phoenix was in effect pushing them inside, where the chance of virus spread is greater. In doing that, Phoenix was “condemning people to their homes” which will further the spread of the virus, he said.
What Ducey did not say in his letter is that, open parks or not, there already are indications of a “fourth wave” of the virus, including in Arizona, especially with the virus mutating into new, more transmissible strains. State health officials reported another 940 new cases Friday and 12 new deaths, bringing the tally up to 16,989.
Gallego, who has crossed swords with Ducey over other COVID-related issues like mask mandates, responded later Friday. She pointed out that the issue Ducey is choosing to make an issue of, right before the holiday weekend, is hardly new.
“It is no surprise, given how slowly you respond to changing events, that only now do you have an opinion about a unanimous bipartisan decision the Phoenix City Council made several weeks ago,” she wrote back to Ducey.
Gallego said that March 16 plan to limit large gatherings by closing parking lots and prohibiting public grilling at parks was based on “evidence-based recommendations” to the council.
“These measures have been widely publicized since they were enacted several weeks ago,” Gallego wrote.
Politics and health issues aside, the mayor also said the governor is legally wrong about his authority.
“You misread your own executive orders, of which, admittedly, there have been many,” Gallego said. She pointed out that one of his orders, still in effect, spells out that cities and counties are free “to control their own properties” and “to set and enforce mitigation policies.”
“The city of Phoenix and its residents — not the governor of Arizona — own and operate the city parks at issue here,” Gallego said.
As to the CDC recommendations, Gallego acknowledged the latest guidelines tell people that if they plan to celebrate with others, outside is safer than indoors. But she said that is cherry-picking what the agency said.
“The same guidance you selectively cite begins with recommendations that people ‘gather virtually’ or ‘with people who live with you,’” the mayor said. Only after listing more recommendations does the CDC say that if people do plan to celebrate, outdoors is better than indoors.
“That same guidance goes on to reiterate the need to ‘wear a mask indoors and outdoors,’” Gallego wrote, a point the governor did not include in his letter to her.
As of March 25, Ducey not only dissolved any orders for mask wearing at certain businesses but also withdrew the authority of local governments to have their own mask mandates.
Yes, you can wear a mask while exercising. Here’s how 3 options stack up.
Surgical mask
Because I have them on hand for covering protests, I tried running in a surgical mask. Four miles may have been too ambitious. The mask was a little too big for me, so it had an uneven seal, mitigated only slightly by knots I tied into the earloops to shorten them. Not great!
Surgical masks are made of disposable, nonwoven fabric that degrades when it gets damp. As the mask softens, it starts to feel like you’re breathing into a paper bag. Mine stayed put but didn’t really maintain its structural integrity during my run. You shouldn’t reuse disposable face masks, but I wouldn’t have been able to if I had tried.
The worst thing about wearing a face mask, in my now-exhaustive experience, is a particularly gross lower-face flora experience you get from it, like you’re sitting inside a slippery, stinky cave that is your own mouth. Wearing a surgical mask while running exacerbates this sensation. And fair warning to those of us in the adult acne club: Wearing a surgical mask on a run is a great way to ensure that dirt, sweat and oil get trapped right up against your skin. If you wanted to give yourself a breakout, this would be the way to do it. My 4-mile experiment resulted in two whole pimples. The things I do for journalism.
Bottom line: For protection from viral droplets, a surgical mask is great (as long as it fits; please make sure it does). But it’s not particularly comfortable for exercise, especially longer workouts. I wouldn’t recommend wearing one of these for runs longer than 2 miles.
Buff
I had high hopes for the tube-shaped, multiuse garment known as a buff, a neck gaiter you can wear as a headband (stylish!), neckerchief or face covering. The adaptive accessory is intended for outdoor use — exactly what I was looking for. I ordered one from REI and retrieved it at the flagship location’s extremely busy curbside pickup operation, where REI staff flocked to drivers waiting in their Subarus in a flurry of activity that seemed excessive for a weekday afternoon (I guess we have nothing else to do right now).
Alas, it turned out to be a fool’s errand. My pink Turtle Fur comfort shell may be made of “highly advanced 4-way stretch performance technical fabric,” but it suffered the same fatal flaw as the surgical mask: Even the smallest adult size was slightly too big, which meant it kept sliding down as I ran, which meant I touched my face more, not less, than I would have with no face covering on, which meant the buff’s unwieldy logistics defeated the purpose of wearing one at all. The only way to keep the buff in place was to wear it so tightly I felt like I was breathing in gulps of technical fabric.
Bottom line: This did not work for me. The material is marketed as “breathable” — not exactly what I want from my last line of defense against rogue droplets — and the poor fit made it a nonstarter, even for an easy 2-miler. Given the small size of my head, you might call this a “me” problem. If you’re not a bird person, you may have better luck.
Cloth mask
I did not have high expectations for the humble cloth mask, but it was the sleeper hit of my experiment. The one I run in is made by SewSporty, a rowing company based in California; I panic-ordered two of them back in April. Constructed from two layers of bamboo white ash polyester blend fabric, the cloth mask feels lighter than a surgical mask, and it’s not unwieldy like the buff — once it’s on, it’s on, and I mostly don’t think about it while I’m running. I’m aware of it in the way that you’re aware of any foreign object near your face, but it doesn’t actively disrupt my running experience.
Bottom line: This one was just right. And that’s saying something, because I have a small airway and seasonal allergies which sometimes cause vocal cord dysfunction. If I can run in a face mask without a problem, runners without these puny afflictions can, too. It may be time we stopped making excuses.
Gov. Doug Ducey
Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego
