The following column is the opinion and analysis of the writer.
Tucson is a great city for springtime festivals. With beautiful weather and ample outdoor and indoor venues, the city usually puts on its best face between February’s gem shows and the University of Arizona’s graduation ceremonies in mid-May.
Hotels and restaurants fill up, and the local tourism and hospitality sectors generally experience a boon.
That’s one reason it’s so tough to hear of cancellation of the Tucson Festival of Books, called off after nearly 100 authors decided not to come due to fears of the rapidly spreading coronavirus.
“It is with great sadness that the Board of Directors of the Tucson Festival of Books has chosen to cancel the 2020 Tucson Festival of Books,” the festival’s board said in a press release. “We know the Festival of Books brings much joy to many in our community as well as visitors from around the country.” (Arizona Daily Star Publisher and President John D’Orlando heads up the festival’s board of directors.)
Other than perhaps the gem shows, TFOB is the city’s biggest draw for out-of-town and international visitors, averaging approximately 120,000 attendees over the festival’s two-day run.
For their part, organizers had anticipated concerns of potential attendees and were making contingency plans for a “touch-free” event, where authors would refrain from handshakes and other audience interactions and additional hand-sanitizing stations were planned for the festival’s food course
But with the announcement over the weekend of two more confirmed cases of COVID-19 in neighboring Pinal County, as well as new cases popping up around the country seemingly hourly, circumstances dictated a more drastic decision.
Undoubtedly, this means a significant hit to Tucson and Pima County’s economy. Even more disheartening is the economic loss to all the workers and gig-contractors who depend on the event for a hardy paycheck.
I should know: for the last four years I’ve bartended the authors’ welcome dinner, held the Friday before the festival begins. I’ve got a career now, but the catering company I continue to work for part-time will surely feel some financial pain.
However, even when factoring in the hit to local companies’ and individuals’ paychecks, the decision to cancel the festival is the right one, and not just because TFOB would have been a shadow of what it usually is, with nearly a third of authors pulling out and the Science City section on the kibosh.
The decision was correct and justified from a public health standpoint, both for potential attendees and Pima County’s general public.
In a joint news conference attended by representatives of the city, county, TUSD, UA, law enforcement and the county health department — held just before the festival’s announcement — Pima County Board Chair Richard Elías voiced the ultimate reason the cancellation is the right thing.
“Watch out for your elders,” Elías said. “Let me repeat that, watch out for our elders. The people with chronic health decisions are at the most risk.”
That was backed up by Dr. Nancy Messonnier, the director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, who, during a press briefing Monday morning, encouraged people “age 60 to 65” to avoid non-essential travel, large crowds and “high-touch” public surfaces. In other words, the Tucson Festival of Books.
Although by no means is TFOB exclusively an event for more mature adults, the heart and soul of the events attendees and volunteer corp falls squarely within the age-range for which the CDC recommends extra caution.
In addition, even though early indications are that deaths from COVID-19 are markedly lower among younger, healthy people, the virus can be carried by those without severe symptoms out into the wider public.
Imagine that the event went off and at this time next week the public learned an attendee or two had tested positive for the virus. There would be a public outcry from all corners asking why the event wasn’t canceled, with a mad rush to track where the infected individual(s) went and who they interacted with.
That would, of course, be followed by calls for more testing for the virus, putting a strain on local hospitals and health-care providers. Although city, county and state officials assure us they are ready for a potential pandemic, that could be more costly to human life than the virus itself.
As painful as it is, the festival’s organizers got it right: An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
