As Dunleavy Bails on COVID-19, Quinn-Davidson is Poised to Lead
The disaster declaration Alaska has operated under since March is set to expire in less than thirty days but don't expect Dunleavy to do anything about it.
The declaration gives the state special powers to protect public health using mandates. Still, in case you missed Governor Dunleavy's message to Alaskans on October 6, he's done with COVID-19, having capitulated to the small vocal minority who yells and whines about the COVID-19 "hoax."
Dunleavy is affectionately referred to as "mini-Trump" throughout social media. He takes his coronavirus cues from Donald Trump, who is all but certain to lose this year's presidential election mainly because he mishandled the Coronavirus pandemic.
Polls show that roughly 67.3% of Americans continue to be greatly concerned about being infected by Coronavirus, and 86% have serious concerns about the virus's impact on our economy. 57.5% of all Americans disapprove of Trump's handling of the pandemic.
Dunleavy is perhaps the worst Governor Alaska has ever had. He's been embroiled in repeated scandals, refuses to take un-scripted questions from the media, and for all intent and purposes, hides from public view until he's exposed at a fundraiser maskless hours after chiding Alaskans for six minutes for not wearing masks and warning us how contagious the virus is.
On a streak of court losses, Dunleavy was handed another when a state judge ruled that his vetoes of state funding for abortions from the court system's budget were unconstitutional, with the Judge writing in her decision, "the Governor violated the separation of powers doctrine."
Dunleavy is a wildly unpopular Governor by Alaska standards. In July last year, polling showed that his approval rating fell through the floor after he announced 440 million dollars in vetos. According to a polling memo obtained by the Midnight Sun at the time, "Dunleavy's positive ratings fell a full 10-points in four days, while his negative reviews jumped seven points, putting him at 31% positive and 64% negative."
While the Governor saw a small bump in his approval ratings for his initial handling of the coronavirus pandemic earlier this year, don't expect that trend to continue as Alaska's COVID-19 cases continue to skyrocket and schools, having rushed to open, are now closing because the virus is spreading in schools.
Alaska Chief Medical Officer Dr. Anne Zink has seemingly gotten on board with Dunleavy's efforts to downplay the threat of the virus, repeating the tired and old mantra reminding Alaskans to "wash their hands and wear a mask."
Dr. Zink wrote in a statement on October 19, "Let's all work together to keep our kids in school and step up our collective prevention efforts," a quote that comes less than thirty days before Anchorage School Superintendent Dr. Deena Bishop continues with a "plan" to put K-2 students back into the classroom as Alaska touts the highest COVID-19 case numbers it's seen since the beginning of the pandemic.
Not even a super-spreader event in Anchorage related to a hockey event can deter this politically fueled effort to return children to the classroom.
The only ray of hope Anchorage has is Quinn-Davidson, set to become Anchorage's acting Mayor this week. She would be well poised to enact additional restrictions to lower our COVID-19 cases and enact a mask mandate with fines for non-compliance. We can only hope that Ms. Davidson won't capitulate to the small vocal minority who chant "tyranny" when they don't get their way.
Quinn-Davidson is going to need all the support she can get if she's going to enact COVID-19 mitigation strategies to safeguard Anchorage as we head into flu season with a surge of coronavirus cases in the municipality as the anti-maskers and Save Anchorage brigade have already begun to plot their attack and demise of the Acting Mayor.
