PRESS EDITORIAL: Businesses lead in the disciplines demanded by the times

Some of the soundest leadership in navigating the hazards of returning to a semblance of life as we knew it before the pandemic is coming from an unlikely source—businesses.

Unlikely because when politicians and protestors demanded a premature end (and the Wisconsin Supreme Court complied) to this state’s restrictions intended to limit the spread of Covid-19, the rationale was to resume commercial activity by reopening the economy.

But now it is the expected beneficiaries of the ending of government restrictions that are perhaps the most influential examples of patience and caution in reviving the economy.         

Stores, supermarkets, restaurants, coffee shops and other businesses that serve the public daily are setting the example for what are, in the absence of a vaccine, the only means to counter the spread of the virus—social distancing and mask wearing.

Many of the small businesses in Ozaukee communities have gone to impressive lengths to protect their customers with building modifications, protective screens, redesigned layouts of counters and tables, social distancing requests or requirements for customers, mask-wearing recommendations or rules and ample signs to ensure customers are well informed.

These measures, of course, limit traffic and thus business activity, and yet enlightened owners know this a price worth paying to make their places of businesses safe for their patrons and workers and, ultimately, to serve the good of the community.

These merchants are also savvy enough to understand that a free-wheeling reopening of the economy without appropriate discipline invites not only a resurgence of Covid-19 infections (already evident in states that have reopened heedless of warnings that it was too soon), but a return to the darkest days of the shut-down economy.

These businesses could serve as models for organizers of public events, but the latter’s challenges are certainly more difficult. How, for example, will the Port Washington farmers market and beer garden, which besides being sources of fresh produce and tasty brew are beloved hubbubs of human contact, enforce social distancing?

The answer is that they won’t be able to, which means it will be up to the participants to respect the new norms of social gathering in the age of pandemic. Unfortunately, acceptance of those norms is far from universal.

One of the reasons for that is, like that other world-threatening phenomenon, climate change, the pandemic has become a political issue. On one side of it are those who reject science-based cautions, flaunt shows of disregard for social distancing and ridicule or aggressively reject mask wearing requests or rules.

We must hope more sensible views, voices and actions prevail. Businesses that have reacted to the health threat with responsible measures to protect their customers, employees and community are leading the way. They deserve to be rewarded by members of the public showing their appreciation with their business.