MUNI ATTORNEY EXPLAINS: NEW COURT HAS NEW FOCUS ON RIGHTS
By SCOTT LEVESQUE
Anchorage’s acting mayor retained her authority on Tuesday to keep the city’s economy locked down for the rest of the month.
Emergency Order 16 is on the books until at least Dec. 31 after an effort by Assembly members Jamie Allard and Crystal Kennedy failed to wedge open the strict business and personal freedom sanctions from the Administration.
Assembly members directed questions at the Austin Quinn-Davidson Administration about EO 16 and its effectiveness. After all, Assembly member Kennedy pointed out, Quinn-Davidson appears to have followed all of her own mandates and protocols, but she still came down with COVID-19.
When asked by Assembly Member Kameron Perez-Verdia whether the virus can be even controlled, Heather Harris, the director of the Anchorage Health Department, said it can, in fact, be controlled.
“Yes,” she said. “There’s ample research that shows that some of our primary mitigating factors is around wearing a mask, maintaining a distance, and washing your hands.”
“And so, as we evaluated options in these emergency orders it was really important to come back to that, and these measures are all informed by that baseline context around being able to maintain mask usage, keeping our distance, and washing our hands,” Harris said.
Harris’s explanation aligns with the CDC’s recommendations for reducing transmission in densely populated areas: Hand washing, masks, and social distancing are the main preventatives to lowering transmission.
If hand washing, masks, and distancing are the most critical factors in controlling the virus, why is Anchorage locking down its businesses? Assembly member Allard probed that riddle in a number of her questions of the Administration.
Allard, an opponent of the lockdowns, also asked the Administration why churches are allowed to be open (which Allard supports) while many congregations are clearly not following the restrictions outlined in Emergency Order 16. She was pointing out the regulatory dissonance in the order.
Harris summarized the emergency order’s recommendations for churches. Municipal Attorney Kate Vogel interjected during Harris’ response to expound on why the municipality is easing off of churches — it’s because of the U.S. Supreme Court’s shift back to the constitution, she said.
“With the new makeup of the United States Supreme Court, they did change course a little bit from where they’d been in the spring when they had Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the bench,” Vogel said.
“There is a new makeup of the court, and they elevated, as I said, the importance, the constitutional importance, of being able to gather for the purpose of worship.”
Assembly member Kennedy followed up with a comment that controlling the virus is not apparently working, arguing that closing down businesses within the Municipality only drives Anchorage residents to spend their money elsewhere — including the Valley — further damaging Anchorage’s own economy.
Attorney Vogel responded, saying it is Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s fault that people in Anchorage are going to the valley to shop and dine:
“I think, from a legal standpoint, I can only say we have a certain jurisdiction, and we can do what we can to stop spread within our jurisdiction. The governor could be taking stronger action. It [mask mandate] would be statewide, and it would alleviate some of these concerns about people going to the lowest common denominator in terms of finding the place with the least restriction and doing their shopping there.”
With that, the Municipal Attorney of Anchorage had just called the Matanuska-Susitna Borough the lowest common denominator because it doesn’t have a mask mandate or business closures.
Among other edicts, EO16 mandates that everyone in Anchorage limit their outings and physical contact with those outside their households. Gatherings are limited and people are to wear masks when in public.
Most damaging to livelihoods is that restaurant and bars are closed except for curbside pickup and delivery, and all businesses are ruled by EO 16’s reduced occupancy mandates.
The entire Emergency Order is at this link:
Assembly member Meg Zaletel, who is the subject of a recall attempt, said she could not support the amendment to remove a number of restrictions, because it “doesn’t feel strategic in nature.”
