Guns? Golf? What’s with Collin County? ‘Essential’ hard to define in coronavirus orders
Words are our business. We publish thousands every day. So one thing we know is that when it comes to language, precision matters.
Consider, for instance, the phrase of the moment: Stay at home. Its meaning is crystalline. Don’t go out, other than for exercise, unless you absolutely must. Local governments have pushed the message hard, and for the most part, people are complying.
But an accompanying term, “essential,” has caused a fair bit of confusion. For one thing, our Dallas-Fort Worth area cities and counties can’t agree among one another — and in some cases have had to specify and redefine what they mean themselves.
The biggest outlier has been Collin County, where local officials declined to distinguish among businesses. The order signed by County Judge Chris Hill pompously declares that “all businesses, jobs and workers” are essential to the local economy.
Normally, that’s true, but right now, it a short-sighted approach. It ignores the point of closing down everything possible, for a limited period, to slow the spread of the virus and prevent our health care system from being overwhelmed. But then, Collin County has a history of shifting the burden of health costs to its neighbors.
The decision shows the need for a more regional-wide effort on the coronavirus pandemic. And it sparked an extraordinary public spat between Hill and Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins over the level of cooperation.
GUNS AND GOLF
It’s impossible for government to think through every kind of business and whether they should remain open. But these two in particular have us scratching our heads.
There’s been debate on gun shops, as closure orders didn’t specify gun shops as essential. Gun-rights advocates immediately raised the issue, noting that first responders may be stretched thin, particularly if police forces themselves lose officers to illness. What could be more essential, they think, than the right of self-defense?
Others argue: Why would it be worth risking spread of the virus to go to a gun store?
Tarrant County’s orders don’t specify gun stores as essential, but County Judge Glen Whitley said that stores can open to process specific online orders. Dallas County didn’t include the shops as essential initially, either, but went back and amended its list.
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It finally fell to Attorney General Ken Paxton to clarify the issue, and he issued an opinion Friday that counties cannot close gun stores even under emergency powers.
On golf, Fort Worth’s order curiously goes out of its way to list golf courses as exempt from closures. It’s the only county in the area to do so.
We’re not sure what prompted the decision, but it sounds like a bad sitcom joke: “Sorry, honey, it’s essential that I get in 18 holes today.” And predictably, duffers with nothing else to do are making long drives to Tarrant County facilities. Not exactly the intended effect of a stay-at-home order.
These are uncharted waters, so it’s somewhat understandable that jurisdictions are navigating them in different ways. Initial orders have to be refined and improved.
The dispersal of power across our levels of government is usually a strength. In extraordinary circumstances, though, it can create gridlock that slows regional approaches to our problems.
Throughout the coronavirus ordeal, we’ve seen exactly that. Slowing the virus, caring for the sick and reviving our economy will require cooperation and coordination. Let’s hope these early stumbles will become lessons quickly learned.