Layne Varney, General Manager
The weather has been great, COVID-19 vaccinations are rolling out, COVID-19 cases in Maricopa County have been decreasing (at this time), and it looks like we have light at the end of what has been a very long tunnel. Although this is all good news, it is strongly recommended by the CDC and other health officials to not move too quickly into rescinding all precautions and disease prevention protocol.
Governor Doug Ducey made a surprise announcement on March 25 lifting some of the previously-made executive orders regarding disease prevention practices. However, he also ordered that businesses “are encouraged to continue to take actions recommended by the CDC, OSHA, and ADHS, to limit and mitigate the spread of COVID-19.” In this announcement, he lifted the order of protective face mask wearing and required all cities and towns within Arizona to comply with this order. The governor made this order optional for private businesses to decide for themselves on how and what disease prevention protocol measures to follow, and whether to have mandatory protective face mask wearing at their own places of business. In direct opposition to this order, the two largest cities in Arizona, Phoenix and Tucson, have made protective face mask wearing mandatory, as they feel it is not quite the right time to relinquish this mandate. It should be interesting to see what, if any, repercussions are taken by the governor regarding this conflict. For SunBird, as a private business, we still have the option “to wear or not to wear” a face mask. At this time, protective face mask wearing is still required at the clubhouse. We have continued to use caution at SunBird as a high-risk population, followed CDC protocol, and kept apprised of reports of current COVID cases, and observed how other businesses are reacting to this. We do not want to see a digression with all of the work and effort placed into this tremendous progress towards minimizing and reducing the risk of disease spread. Everyone is ready and excited to have life return back to normal, or even the “new normal.” However, the timing is just not yet. Let’s continue to be patient a little longer and not get complacent or have a false sense of security. Please, please follow the rules, guidelines, and mandates of disease prevention posted throughout the SunBird clubhouse and in every room. It is anticipated that when mask wearing and other practices are no longer required or necessary, an official announcement will be made through SunBird’s eblast, and posted throughout the clubhouse. We need to continue to work together to minimize the spread of disease for everyone.
Despite these strange times, the progress, improvement, and work moves forward. This summer, many large improvement maintenance projects are planned. Some projects include: replacement of the clubhouse balcony awnings to coordinate with the new paint colors, replacement of the stair handrails at the east section of the clubhouse, installation of updated and new SunBird signage at the main entrance into SunBird, installation of dual-pane windows in some of the multipurpose rooms on the upper level, installation of two additional sitting booths in the Horizon Room dining area with new chairs, road maintenance work in various areas as per scheduled plan, completion of the common area landscape irrigation and lighting project, and other miscellaneous projects to keep our facilities and equipment up to date.
We appreciate everyone’s cooperation and understanding through these unprecedented times. Stay strong and healthy, and we will get through this difficult time together and return back to the “new normal” of fun and activity. Keep the faith.