Few things test our communal patience like Coronavirus. It’s endless, enervating, aggravating and, yes, scary. Even Yr. Humble Blogger’s nerves are getting a wee bit frazzled, especially after a near-miss here at home. It’s the worst U.S. health catastrophe since the 1918-20 Spanish Flu pandemic and shows few signs of abating. We didn’t think much of Steve Sisolak (D) before he became governor of Nevada but he’s shown true grit in confronting Covid-19. That quality is being taxed by the behavior of what New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy (D) would call “knuckleheads” (yes, we believe that’s the medical term). True, the casino industry has done a fairly outstanding job of complying with state health protocols, with 111 violations out of thousands upon thousands of inspections. But it’s an outlier.
On July 3, the governor’s office issued a statement that only 49% of business surveilled for mask-wearing were actually in compliance. Bars and restaurants did not better, 50% compliant. (One might call that a half-assed crisis response.) Other businesses, ranging from auto dealerships to tattoo parlors, were at 61% compliance. “Since enforcement of Directive 024 began, the overall business compliance rate is 85 percent in Northern Nevada and 65 percent in Southern Nevada.” What part of ‘mandatory’ do these businesses not understand?
