Las Vegas city officials recently shut down the Mrs. Nevada beauty pageant for violating the state’s COVID-19 occupancy rules—even though guests were seated six-feet apart and wearing masks. The same regulation limits attendance at religious services to 50, when other operations such as casinos, which use the same social distancing and mask wearing protocols, can host ten-times as many gamblers.
As a physician, I believe state and local leaders have made arbitrary decisions and are going overboard in their enforcement of ever changing rules. There has to be space for individual freedoms and personal responsibility. Shutting down peaceful events and even taking down the basketball hoops in local neighborhoods is not necessary.
Whereas all citizens should take the virus seriously, we are long past a quarantine to flatten the curve and there is no end in sight to government overreach. Instead of focusing on common sense approaches like encouraging people to wash their hands, social distance and wear a facemask to limit viral spread, our leadership insists on enforcing excessive, irrational protocols that promote unnecessary alarm. Government fearmongering has very real consequences that ripple throughout society.
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Read the full op-ed on The Nevada Independent by Dr. H.L. Greenberg, a Board Certified Dermatologist, Founder of Las Vegas Dermatology in Las Vegas, NV and a partner of the Job Creators Network Foundation.