Sedgwick County is risking lives by stalling on stay-at-home order
We depend on elected officials to make tough choices during times of crisis, and a pandemic is that time.
Unfortunately, the Sedgwick County Commission made a dangerous choice Sunday by letting the clock run a little longer, letting hospital beds get a little fuller, and letting economic concerns trump public health.
After a special meeting to discuss the coronavirus pandemic — during which commissioners spaced themselves at least 6 feet apart — the commission opted against issuing an immediate stay-at-home order for people in the largest city in Kansas.
Commissioners consulted Garold Minns, dean of the Wichita campus of the University of Kansas School of Medicine and the public health officer for Sedgwick County, who said the county “probably” will have to get more restrictive eventually.
“But we got a little time to get more information and see how we can do this in the best way that’s the least painful to our county,” Minns said.
We don’t have time — not even a little — as the startling rise of COVID-19 deaths in other cities illustrates.
As of Sunday afternoon, there were 65 cases of COVID-19 in Kansas. The Wichita area had seven confirmed cases, including a woman with “no known travel history” — a strong signal that the coronavirus could be spreading undetected in our area.
Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas acted quickly over the weekend to issue a stay-at-home order that will go into effect early Tuesday. Leaders elsewhere have taken similar measures in an effort to stop the spread of the novel coronavirus.
But Sedgwick County chose not to act — at least not yet — and that could push local hospitals to the brink and endanger lives.
Commissioner Lacey Cruse raised legitimate concerns Sunday and was the only member to explicitly say that she supported passing an ordinance immediately.
She and countless public health officials — though Minns is a shocking outlier — know that the more quickly communities can shut down and restrict activity, the more effectively they can slow the spread of this life-threatening virus.
No one ever wants to close bars, restaurants and other businesses and order residents to stay at home. Voluntary shutdowns and other consequences of the pandemic already have devastated our local economy.
But this is a choice between bad and horrifying. It’s crucial that elected officials take drastic action, because too many residents are ignoring pleas to avoid gatherings and stay home.
“We’re not taking people’s freedoms away,” Cruse said of a potential stay-at-home order. “This is trying to protect our community and trying to give our health workers the best chance that we can.”
She should be commended for trying to do the right thing.
It’s possible that other commissioners are just stalling long enough for Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly to issue a statewide shutdown, saving themselves from being the bad guys. If so, that’s shameful and weak.
Waiting to take action until “we start seeing a number of patients in the ICUs on the ventilators,” as Minns suggested, is too late.
We need more restrictive measures now, and we need leaders with the courage to make that happen.
This story was originally published March 23, 2020 at 6:26 AM.