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The first sign something was wrong was a cold that came on the night of June 11.
Surprise Mayor Skip Hall tossed and turned and couldn’t sleep all night.
He started to take some NyQuil and DayQuil to help soothe the symptoms, but it wasn’t helping.
A day earlier, City Councilman David Sanders wasn’t feeling too good himself, so on June 12 he went in for a COVID-19 test just to be sure.
Two days later he got the word that he was positive.
“He called me and said, ‘I’ve got some bad news,’” Mr. Hall said.
Mr. Hall and Mr. Sanders, who are endorsing each other in the Aug. 4 city elections, were together right before they both started feeling bad. So, the mayor figured between that exposure and the fact he wasn’t feeling good, he better go get a COVID test himself.
A couple of days later he drove to the Walgreen’s on Dysart and Greenway roads where they were testing the first 60 people who showed up without an appointment.
He said he was about the 20th car when he arrived a little after 7 a.m. He waited a little over two hours before he made it to the front of the line.
By 1 p.m. that day he received the bad news that he was positive as well.
“It’s hard to tell where I got it,” Mr. Hall said. “It could have been off a $20 bill. Who knows?”
Now, the city is under Mr. Hall’s executive order for all people in Surprise to wear face masks in public after Gov. Doug Ducey gave cities and towns the option to do so.
“It could have been a lot worse,” he said. “I will have the antibodies, so when the fall comes and we get another wave of this crap I will be immune to that.”
How they’re feeling
In the early days of recovering from the virus in self-quarantine, Mr. Hall said he was doing as well as can be expected.
“The only thing I can equate it to is a bad head cold,” the 74-year-old mayor said.
Mr. Hall said he has been experiencing night sweats and waves of feeling good and bad.
“Every once in a while, I cough, especially if an air conditioner comes on,” he said. “My energy is kind of low. My head is kind of fuzzy. But my breathing seems OK.”
The mayor made the stunning announcement the he had contracted the virus by telephone during the June 16 City Council meeting, which he attended via phone from home.
“I tested positive for COVID, so I will be out of pocket for the next 10 days,” Mr. Hall said at the beginning of the meeting.
Mr. Sanders, meanwhile, also attended the meeting telephonically and confirmed afterward that he had also tested positive.
“I didn’t attend the meeting because I am quarantined in my house,” Mr. Sanders said. “I am praying for Mayor Hall and his loved ones during this time. I understand that it can be scary to have that positive test result.”
Additionally, Councilwoman Nancy Hayden missed the June 16 meeting all together with an excused absence. She later told the Independent that she had tested negative for the coronavirus.
Vice Mayor Chris Judd said he found out two hours before the city’s work session that he would be leading that and the council’s regular meeting.
“[The mayor] knew he’d been exposed recently,” Mr. Judd said. “So, he went and got tested. I practically fell out my chair before he said that at the meeting knowing [the announcement].”
Mr. Judd said he isn’t concerned that he may have been exposed himself.
“I’ve been pretty careful,” he said. “I haven’t seen Skip since the last council meeting [June 2], so I know there’s no risk there.
“But I’ve heard of a handful of people [I know] who have coronavirus. This is surging. It’s making it more and more nerving.”
Mr. Judd will take over Mr. Hall’s appearance at upcoming appointments.
The good news for the City Council is Mr. Hall and Mr. Sanders’s quarantine comes at a time when it is about to start its summer break. The Council doesn’t usually meet in July or the first part of August.
Mr. Judd said he ran the June 16 meeting instead of Mr. Hall because of some technological problems with delays the city had been experiencing at meetings.
‘One of those things’
District 4 Councilman Ken Remley said it’s a good thing COVID has reduced the number of interactions the Council has had in person lately.
“It’s one of those things,” Mr. Remley said. “We get out there and do our jobs. And even though we’ve all been pretty careful, it’s one of those things that everybody is kind of exposed or susceptible.”
Surprise joined the list of Arizona cities requiring people to wear masks in public on June 20.
But it’s still a topic that’s even debated on the Surprise City Council itself, despite two of its members testing positive.
“The effectiveness of a mask is still up for debate,” the mayor said. “Even the experts that are advising the president have been wrong many times. There’s very mixed messages from experts.”
Some Surprise residents took the mayor to task on Facebook and other social media sites for being seen around the city without a mask. On one page, residents attempted to put together a timeline of where Mr. Hall was seen in the days after his exposure and before his quarantine.
Mr. Hall calls it a “fair criticism” to those who are in favor of wearing masks. He said it has changed his mind a little bit.
“I guess out of caution, I’ll be wearing a mask more when I go out,” Mr. Hall said. “I usually wear a mask when I’m in Walmart or Target, but I haven’t been wearing them when I go to a restaurant.”
Mr. Remley said sometimes the mask use is a little overboard.
“It depends,” Mr. Remley said. “If you don’t need one, don’t wear one. I see people out walking wearing a mask. That’s kind of ridiculous.”
District 1 Councilman Roland Winters has been taking no chances with his health. He was the only council member to wear a mask during the entire Council meeting June 16.
“I just wish all our residents would stay at home as much as possible, wear that mask and take that six-foot social distancing very seriously,” Mr. Winters said. “We made national news because we spiked so high. It’s far from over, so don’t relax your guard.”
At the end of the meeting he presided over, Mr. Judd held up his face mask and reminded viewers to wear theirs in public.
“As soon as the meeting is over we’re going to put them on again,” he said. “It’s just something that’s good to do for your neighbors.”
Editor’s Note: Jason Stone can be reached at jstone@newszap.com. Visit yourvalley.net.
Former NAU Lumberjack who loves going to concerts (or I did), watching sports (or I did) and hanging out with friends (oh, never mind). I also enjoy backgammon, surfing and men who are not afraid to cry.
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