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A500.2.3.GA Going Around the Circle

Mayor Van Johnson for the City of Savannah gave a press briefing on July 14th 2020 at 11:00 AM as an update to the state of the Coronavirus pandemic in the City (WJCL, 2020). In this press briefing the Mayor made an appeal to the denizens of the city to carefully follow the recommendations of the Centers for Disease Control and to brace for additional recommendations and Emergency Orders by the City if necessary. This writing will be an exercise of going around the 8+ elements of reasoning on the question at issue of the city ordinance requiring face masks in public spaces (Nosich, 2012, p. 49).

On June 30th of 2020 the City of Savannah passed an emergency order requiring face coverings in public places within the city limits. The purpose of this order, as stated by the Mayor, was “to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus disease,” within our city (WJCL, 2020). The order was drafted with information from federal, state, and local experts on the disease in mind. This information from the Centers for Disease Control and World Health Organization included data about cases of COVID-19 increasing within the city limits and that wearing facemasks can help slow the spread of the disease. It is the Mayor’s interpretation of the data that it “necessitates a substantial paradigm shift and corresponding drastic action to keep Savannah safe,” (WJCL, 2020). It also rests on the city’s interpretation of the current situation as an emergency and that the Georgia Statutes authorize these actions by the Mayor. The concepts of “safety” and “emergency” are used in this reasoning and include assumptions that it is the duty of governments to take measures to keep its residents free from the harms of disease, and that the current environment constitutes an emergency.

All of the above reasoning was taken from the point of view of a city government and within the context of the State of Georgia’s ordinance that has explicitly forbidden these kinds of restrictions. In the current climate where these kinds of decisions are highly politicized some implications of these actions may include citizen noncompliance, conflict between State and City law, and the imposition of behavior policing. All of this also exists within the context of a society coming to terms with the disproportionalities that exist within institutions of public safety, and a community that is majority Black. Police officers are authorized to enforce these orders and will issue citations of $500 for noncompliance.

The Mayor continuously throughout his speaking arrangements stresses that these decisions are made by taking into account “facts not feelings” and that they are acting in the public good and in response to science (WJCL, 2020). Taking a closer look at the reasoning behind the City’s emergency order helps to better “understand, in a fairly deep way, just what [the Mayor] is saying and how [he] is reasoning through an issue,” (Nosich, 2012, p. 67).

References

Nosich, G. M. (2012). Learning to think things through: A guide to critical thinking across the curriculum (4th ed.). Boston: Pearson.

WJCL. (2020, July 14). Savannah major july 14 press conference [video]. Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qijJCV3UYhI


A500.2.3.GA  Going Around the Circle
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