A group of 20-30 EDM residents gathered at the Phase I palapa Saturday afternoon to discuss the short-term future in light of the COVID-19 outbreak. Almost all were planning on staying at EDM for at least the next two weeks.
THE SITUATION:
Residents – Most residents have chosen to leave.
Renters – Renting is happening.
Restaurants – La Paloma is closed.
Golf Course – The course is open and popular. Incoming players are not being health screened.
Hotel – It is unknown whether reservations are being cancelled. The management has put out a bulletin encouraging people to change their dates instead of cancelling in order to preserve the incomes of the workforce.
EDM Workers – All EDM workers are being health screened before coming on-shift. Residents, golfers, and renters are not being screened. It is unknown whether the management staff, executives, contractors, or visitors are also being screened.
THE PROBLEM AREAS:
Food Shopping –
- Luis, the fruit and veggie truck guy, committed last week to come again this week. Luis does not speak English but is willing to bring specialty items out. His phone number is 669-145-4646.
- Chalva, the shrimp and fish guy, said he would not be here next week. However, he speaks good English and is willing to deliver goods. His phone number is 669-154-5445.
- Sebastian lives in Stone Island and can deliver meats, pharmacy items, and produce. Jeremy has his contact info.
- Karina runs the organic food delivery service. Jeremy will add all of the attending residents’s emails to her list. She offers a variety of goods, mostly food items but other specialty items as well. All orders posted by 7pm on Wednesdays will be available for pick-up on Saturday. This does require that someone leave the property and travel into Mazatlán to pick up the goods.
- The group discussed the possibilities involving communal shopping or communal food delivery and decided it was too difficult to predict what might work at this time.
In-house workers – Local workers who enter the home to perform their services (maids, masseuses, repairmen) are potential vectors of infection. Some residents have cancelled their services, some have not.
EDM Response – Cleaning regimens have been doubled at the hotel. It is up to each Phase to direct their cleaning workers to redouble their efforts.
QUESTIONS FOR EDM MANAGEMENT:
- Will Los Delfines remain open in the short-term?
- Is there a scenario that includes closing the golf course?
- Is there a scenario that includes closing the hotel?
- If the resort is closed to guests, will the security and maintenance staff continue working?
- Is it possible to set up body temperature and general health checks for each and every person wanting to enter the property?
- Have you envisioned what might trigger a worse-case scenario?
QUESTIONS FOR HOA MANAGEMENT:
- Can cleaning efforts be redoubled for the common areas?
- If the resort is closed, will staff assigned to each Phase continue working?
QUESTIONS FOR EACH RESIDENT THAT ELECTS TO STAY:
The people who have chosen to stay fall in to three categories: people who live here full time, people who planned to stay into the spring anyway, and people who feel that EDM could be a safer place to shelter during this pandemic than their other choices. Most folks fall into both of the last categories.
People seem to fall along a spectrum as far as the degree of lock-down required by the current situation. Some feel that life will go on as normal. They see no reason to alter their lifestyles at all. At the other end of the spectrum are people who have compromised immune systems or lung function and are hoping to rely upon a degree of “herd immunity” to help protect their health. In-between is the bulk of the residents.
The definition of herd immunity is well illustrated by musk oxen in the far north. When threatened, all adults form a circle and protect the young and infirm. While this is not necessary today, during a worse-case scenario perhaps taken straight from the book “Hot Zone”, we residents will each have to choose from among the following regimens:
| Possible? | YES | NO |
| 1) No direct contact with outsiders: no maids, no masseuses, no repair men. | ||
| 2) Face masks to be worn at all times in the presence of others. | ||
| 3) When outside to play golf or pickle ball, maintain a personal space of at least six feet with no hand-to-hand contact. | ||
| 4) No gatherings of more than four persons inside. Outside, personal space must be maintained. | ||
| 5) No excursions into town that involve leaving your personal vehicle. | ||
| 6) No trips to Centro using the panga boats. | ||
| 7) No dining out. | ||
| 8) Commitment to self-isolate if the COVID warning signs appear, knowing that the community will support them. | ||
| 9) Commitment to cooperate fully and completely. Additionally, a commitment to be sure that everyone continues to “do the right thing” in order to preserve our herd immunity. |
The ability of us getting 100% of everyone involved to cooperate at any except the most basic level is questionable. Even though all meeting participants agreed that they would could commit to contributing to our herd immunity, after the meeting, small groups of friends stayed to discuss these important issues but failed to maintain their personal space. It seems we have a lot of training to do. And it seems that our bubble is about to break.
Since the meeting, the Brodericks, the McGuires, and the Freemans have elected to leave.
