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About The Observer. (La Grande, Or.) 1968-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 25, 2020)
8A — THE OBSERVER TUESDAY, AUGUST 25, 2020 NATION Emails show businesses held sway over state reopening plans Some Oregon businesses pressed for more say in state’s reopening process; hospital association urged mandate for masks By David A Lieb Associated Press WASHINGTON — As South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster prepared to announce the end of a coronavirus stay-at-home order, his top staff received an email from the state health department. The message, highlighted in bold, was clear: Wait longer before allowing customers back inside restaurants, hair salons and other businesses where people will be in close contact. Instead, McMaster pressed ahead with a plan written by the state restaurant associa- tion to resume inside dining on May 11. The guidelines made masks optional for employees and allowed more customers inside than the health agency had advised. A few days later, the Repub- lican governor opened the doors to salons, fi tness cen- ters and swimming pools. He did not wait to gauge the effect of the restaurant reopening on the virus, as public health offi - cials had suggested. Like many states, South Carolina later expe- rienced a surge in infections that forced McMaster to dial back his reopening plan. He was hardly alone. Thou- sands of pages of emails provided to The Associated Press under open-records laws show gover- nors across the U.S. were inun- dated with reopening advice from a wide range of industries — from campgrounds in New Hamp- shire to car washes in Wash- ington. Some governors put eco- nomic interests ahead of public health guidance, and certain busi- nesses were allowed to write the rules that would govern their own operations. As job losses accelerated, the pressure to reopen intensifi ed. “Attraction folks are on me like white on rice,” McMaster’s tourism director wrote to the head of the governor’s reopening task force, describing lobbying from amusement parks, bingo halls and other entertainment venues. Though governors often work with business leaders to craft policy, the emails offer a new window into their decisions during a critical early juncture in the nation’s battle against the pandemic. Many governors chose to reopen before their states met all the nationally recommended health guidelines, which include a sustained downward rate of infec- tion and robust testing and contact tracing. “The interest in trying to reopen and restart economic activity had a much greater pull at the time ... than did public health concerns or question marks about how it would go,” said Anita Cicero, deputy director of the Johns Hopkins University Center for Health Security. Many states were forced to halt or roll back their reopening plans as COVID-19 cases spiked across the country this summer, and the number of infections and deaths in the U.S. far outpaced those of any other country. In early August, McMaster transformed his restaurant guide- lines into requirements, including a mandate that all diners and Staff photo by Sabrina Thompson Denny’s on Island Avenue, La Grande, now opens at 7 a.m. Lori Mill- sap-Cristes, the restaurant’s general manager, says the change in hours is due to COVID-19 regulations. Emails the Associated Press ob- tained via state public records laws show governors working closely with business interests as they weighed when and how to reopen their economies during the coronavirus pandemic. employees wear masks. The governor’s spokesman, Brian Symmes, said “some restaurants weren’t doing what they needed to do.” Symmes also defended the spring reopening, saying the governor “has a wider scope of responsibility and focus than our public health offi cials.” “It simply isn’t the govern- ment’s job to put its thumb on the scale by shuttering these small businesses for an undefi ned and indefi nite period of time,” Symmes said. Two weeks after North Dakota reopened, Republican Gov. Doug Burgum received a report showing a single-day spike of 69 new COVID-19 cases in one county. Burgum fi red off an email to several of his top offi cials com- plaining that the outbreak — com- bined with lower-than-promised daily COVID-19 testing — was “driving our state numbers in the wrong direction.” North Dakota was among at least 15 states that provided records to the AP at no cost. A few states wanted hundreds or thousands of dollars to supply copies of the communications that could reveal how governors were making decisions — and which voices infl uenced them the most. Some states suspended or slowed responses to open-records requests because of the corona- virus. Three months after sub- mitting its request, the AP still is awaiting records from many states, including Texas and Florida, which have some of the highest numbers of confi rmed COVID-19 cases. California denied the AP’s request, because state law shields correspondence involving the governor’s offi ce from public disclosure. “In a pandemic, you need more transparency, more information — not less of either one of those,” said Dan Bevarly, executive director of the National Freedom of Information Coalition. As she was putting the fi n- ishing touches on a reopening plan in May, Oregon Gov. Kate Brown received a letter from a coalition of business groups pressing for more say in the pro- cess. Two hours later, the head of the state hospital association wrote urging the Democrat to mandate masks as “foundational to any business opening where people will be gathered, indoors or out.” At fi rst, Brown required masks only for employees of certain businesses, but she had to reverse course as COVID-19 cases rose over the summer. She became one of 34 governors to impose state- wide mask mandates. In Washington state, land- scapers, dog walkers and car wash operators all had a role in the rules affecting their businesses, according to emails provided by Gov. Jay Inslee’s administration. Lance Odermat, vice presi- dent of Brown Bear Car Wash in Seattle, said he was frustrated that car washes were not exempt from Inslee’s order shutting down many businesses in March. But Odermat continued to plead his case. He was included in a car- wash reopening group and sent the administration the company’s internal plan for reopening with coronavirus precautions. When the governor released his reopening strategy, “it seemed like a lot of those guidelines were taken directly from our operating plan,” Odermat said. Laura set to hit U.S. as hurricane By Rebecca Santana and Seth Borenstein Associated Press NEW ORLEANS — Tropical Storm Marco began falling apart Monday, easing one threat to the Gulf Coast but setting the stage for the arrival of Laura as a potentially supercharged Category 3 hurricane with winds top- ping 110 mph. The two-storm combi- nation could bring a his- tory-making onslaught of wind and coastal fl ooding from Texas to Alabama, forecasters said. Still a tropical storm for now, Laura churned just south of Cuba after killing at least 11 people in the Dominican Republic and Haiti, where it knocked out power and caused fl ooding in the two nations that share the island of Hispan- iola. The deaths report- edly included a 10-year-old girl whose home was hit by a tree and a mother and young son who were crushed by a collapsing wall. Laura was not expected to weaken over land before moving into warm, deep Gulf waters that forecasters said could bring rapid intensifi cation. “What we know is there’s going to be storm surge from Marco. We know that that water is not going to recede hardly at all before Laura hits, and so we’ve not seen this before. And that’s why people need to be paying particular attention,” Gov. John Bel Edwards warned Sunday. Shrimp trawlers and fi shing boats were tied up in a Louisiana harbor ahead of the storms. Red fl ags warned swimmers away from the pounding surf. Both in-person classes and virtual school sessions were canceled in some districts. State emergencies were declared in Louisiana and Mississippi, and shel- ters were being opened with cots set farther apart, designed to curb infections. “The virus is not con- cerned that we have hurri- canes coming, and so it’s not going to take any time off and neither can we,” Edwards said. it’s too late! HURRY! OFFER ENDS 8/31/20 LIMITED TIME ONLY EXPIRES AUG. 31, 2020 Mention Code: 20AugWanted LA GRANDE BAKER CITY ENTERPRISE 111 Elm Street La Grande, OR 97850 2021 Washington Ave. Baker City, OR 97814 113-1/2 Front E. Main St. Enterprise, OR 97828 541-239-3782 541-239-3877 541-605-2109
