OPINION:
The best defense against COVID-19 is, well, a great offense.
Until Thursday, the Bowser administration was seemingly moving in that direction, giving the media and public lengthy daily briefings on how the nation’s capital is positioned to take on the coronavirus.
The U.S. stats, as you know, are staggering, which means each of us has to bring our A-game — first by not panicking, second by following our science and medical experts and third by playing like a roving middle linebacker who keeps his eyes open for a prize-winning sack. In this case, flattening the virus.
In many respects, Mayor Muriel Bowser was moving in the same direction as her regional counterparts, Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam and Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, which is a good thing considering the three jurisdictions share borders that are traversed for home, work, play and worship. The stay-at-home policies have temporarily interrupted their lives and their livelihoods.
But now comes a frightening proposition: A blue ribbon panel courtesy of the mayor.
Miss Bowser is ginning up a “Reopen D.C.” commission to determine when, how and what will be resuscitated after the virus is tackled — hopefully, based on statistics.
She proposed 12 panels that will focus on everything from D.C. agency and zoning regulations to child care to transportation and school recommendations.
She also used the words “community” and “vulnerable” populations several times in her press conference — words that mean different things to different people.
Aren’t all people vulnerable to the deadly coronavirus? The healthy and the wealthy? The sick and the poor? The aged and the young? Renters and mortgage holders?
What could be most troublesome, then, is the size of the commission, and its tackling of issues from A-Z means political sway will certainly lead the way — and the mayor chooses herself as the coach and the 13th man.
She, of course, is cheered on by multibillionarie Mike Bloomberg, the Democrat she backed for president and the man with the money behind one of her pet political footballs — anti-gun measures. Mr. Bloomberg also is the namesake of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, which will serve as a commission adviser.
The mayor also said she will be hiring hundreds of personnel to conduct “contact” observations. Which means what? If you’ve been traced heading to Whole Foods on a daily basis, you’ll be nabbed as a toilet paper hoarder?
The mayor has stepped out of bounds, and she needs to be reined in.
Even the Baltimore Ravens’ Ray Lewis, one of the most effective and efficient middle linebackers in NFL history, occasionally admitted his bad moves.
• Deborah Simmons can be contacted at dsimmons@washingtontimes.com.
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