Is The San Francisco Health Officer Killing The Zoo? Pt Two

My main issue of keeping the Zoo closed, ia the hypocrisy, when all kinds of other places and behavior are allowed.  I pretty much cover it in my video, which is linked in the part one to this post title, from yesterday. The purpose of this post is basically as an open letter to the San Francisco Health Officer Tomas Aragon, who is responsible for green-lighting places that can open, and advising/setting health order mandates.  He is the guy, keeping the San Francisco Zoo closed.

To recap, the problem started the last week of May, when Governor Newsom announced the Re-Opening Timeline.  His Timeline placed California Zoos in Phase 3, to Re-Open in mid-August, along with Indoor Museums. Botanical Gardens like ours in San Francisco were in Phase 2 with Outdoor Museums, allowed to Re-Open June 1st.  The majority of a Zoo is outdoors, so this logic makes absolutely no sense at all.

On May 29, I questioned this nonsense in my blog, and to Newsom on Twitter, and I started a Petition aimed at Newsom, calling for reclassification of Zoos. Curiously eight days after I started my Petition, Newsom fast tracked Phase 3 and deferred to local Officials, to set their own Re-Opening dates anytime after June 29. ... In light of that, this issue now shed the responsibility on our San Francisco Department of Public Health.

After returning to the Botanical Gardens, the second day of their re-opening, June 2, I became more irritated about the Zoo not being in the same classification.  I detail my visit in a blog post, which also has a video link.  In short, the BG was not following re-opening protocol, allowing visitors to remove their face-covering once inside.  By week two, I was incensed, as my regular morning walk was pushed to afternoon, which meant more people.  I stopped counting at forty visitors, which was over half, without face-covering. 

After the June 16 Board of Supervisors Meeting, my attention turned to Tomas Aragon, the SF Health Officer.  He is the one dictating the Orders and was the only hold-out at the Meeting to green-light the Zoo Re-Opening.  I sent him an email, presenting valid reasoning why the Zoo should be allowed to re-open, and concerns if it is not. ... Now, he is once again responsible for the Re-Opening delay that was to happen June 29.

  

I again turn my words to Health Officer Tomas Aragon. Let me start by saying, I am not a Medical Professional, so my opinion is just that, my opinion. I base all my opinions on logic, and to me, the places that are allowed to re-open, and the behavior of the masses, does not represent logic in relation to keeping the Zoo closed.  

I completely understand the concern regarding cases surges, but I also see what's going on, and surges are inevitable when people aren't following the rules, and the masses are not.  Additionally, if those are the concerns, then a wider shutdown would make the concern valid, but that hasn't happened, so it's not valid.

I am outraged that the Botanical Garden can open and the Zoo can't.  The Zoo has more space, wider paths, and a controlled environment, something the BG does not. I continue to go there and continue to see visitors without face-covering.  Yet the Zoo Can't Open. 

Retail stores are open with no limiting of number of people.  Face-Covering mostly required, yet Target and the Post Office do not Require them???  There is no Distancing happening in any store.  Yet the Zoo Can't Open. 

Outdoor Dining, where people are packed in small spaces, with masks off, talking, laughing, expelling particles, is allowed.  Yet the Zoo Can't Open.

I have a video on my YouTube, of outdoor dining and this irritation happening across the street from the Zoo at Pasquales Pizza, but you can see in the photo the hypocrisy.  Gathering, no face-covering, no distancing, and two Police even there inside!  Yet the Zoo Can't Open. 

The Parks and Beaches are not even enclosed controlled outdoor places and people are free to gather, not wearing face coverings or distancing. Yet the Zoo Can't Open.

And the Protests. Forget the ones that started happening a month ago, that allowed for huge crowds, with no distancing.  Let's go with gatherings that were allowed since the Re-Opening delay was announced Friday June 26.  Please know that I am not against Protests, Parades, and other gatherings of these sort, obviously I am all for free speech and expression or I wouldn't have been writing about the Zoo in blogs for over ten years.  The issue I'm taking by using them as an example, is the hypocrisy that allowing one thing over another is not justified.  Gatherings, not in controlled environment.  Yet the Zoo Can't Open.

 

Thanks to Senator Scott Wiener for documenting these events and posting to Twitter. Made it easy for me. 

Now, IF, as I heard at one point, this issue is a concern about the Animals contracting Covid, then please explain A- How that can happen if Visitors are kept back at least six feet from exhibits and B- Why no other Zoo in the Country has that concern in regard to Re-Opening? Animal Care Safety Protocols are being taken. There is no one in the Animal Care Department at the San Francisco Zoo that I know who would want the Zoo to open if they thought the Animals in their care were at risk.

The Zoo has been wrongly classified, and that needs to change immediately.  Again, and I know I sound like a broken record, but it is the same reasoning I made over a month ago, IF the Botanical Garden can be open, and people are allowed to be out in the Park with no face-covering, no distancing, there is no reason the Zoo can not open.  Its the same type of facility as the BG, and a controlled environment unlike the Park.  I fear delaying Re-Opening any longer will be detrimental to the Zoos future.

The City of San Francisco owns the Zoo and the Animals. If they are not going to be allowed to open and to gain revenue to sustain the lives of the Animals, then the City will need to take on the costs of their care.  Having the Zoo fall into a financially dire situation for no logical reason is irresponsible and not acceptable.

Related Posts
7.3.20 Is The San Francisco Health Officer Killing The Zoo? Pt One

https://iamnotananteater.blogspot.com/2020/07/is-san-francisco-health-officer-killing.html

6.19.20 Re-Opening The SFZoo - Letter to SF Public Health Officer

https://iamnotananteater.blogspot.com/2020/06/re-opening-sfzoo-letter-to-sf-public.html

6.3.20 San Francisco Botanical Gardens Re .-Opens, Why Can't SFZoo?

https://iamnotananteater.blogspot.com/2020/06/san-francisco-botanical-gardens-re.html

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