Milhaven: Continue using masks to keep Scottsdale healthy

Mask up, Scottsdale! Masks were part of our winning strategy. We should not give up on a winning strategy.

We can all be proud that our efforts over the last several months have taken Arizona from one of the most infected states in the country to one of the least infected.

We all want to get out and get back to normal. We all want to see the business community thrive. We want to see tourists come back and spend their money here.

To do that, we needed to get infection rates down and now, as we come out of our homes, we need to do so safely so we can keep infection rates down.

The CEO of Honor Health, the CDC, and the Surgeon General all tell us that masks work to keep us all safe.

Maricopa County still requires masks but the lifting of the city mandate has the potential to create confusion. It puts us at risk if the county lifts its mandate.

Public policy makers are tasked with balancing the rights of all people. In this case, we need to balance the rights of people not to wear masks with the rights of others not to get sick.

It seems a small price to pay to wear a mask so we can get out of our homes safely. We don’t need to accept that folks will get sick and that some will die.

We shouldn’t be arguing with store employees, who deal with the public all day, when they ask us to mask up to safe guard them.

We need to safe guard each other.

On Tuesday night, council members Korte and Whitehead stood with me to propose a City Council discussion to continue the mask mandate. We failed to get a majority to agree. Instead, we will have a review of the state and county guidelines.

If you support mandating masks so that we can keep infection rates low, please email your City Council at citycouncil@scottsdaleaz.gov.

With or without a mandate, please be mindful of others. Mask up and keep us all safe.

Editor’s Note: Linda Milhaven is a Scottsdale City Council candidate.