In a recent article, “Rehoboth: Lift quarantine for property owners, test service employees,” Rehoboth commissioners revealed their decision making is based on class bias rather than science or logic in proposing to lift the quarantine for out-of-state homeowners, while adding testing for “workers,” many of whom they say come from “hotspots.”
As a Sussex County resident who has traveled daily during this pandemic from my home in Georgetown to my job as an essential worker in Lewes, I guess I don’t merit the “trust” that Gay says Rehoboth second homeowners deserve. “Gay said city officials have to trust that property owners have the best interest of the city in mind when they’re in town.”
In contrast, Commissioner Byrne says, “City officials must be proactive to ensure that service-industry workers can be regularly tested for COVID-19, as many who work in restaurants and hotels come from areas of the county that are hotspots right now.”
I guess the same logic does not hold true for second homeowners who are coming from New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Maryland - all which have their own hotspots?
The implication is that second homeowners can be trusted to keep us all safe as they go to the grocery store to stock up and to restaurants to pick up food, but the “workers” who prepare their food and serve it to them need to be tested.
As for me, I think I’ll avoid Rehoboth when the second homeowners return and instead keep to my side of the “tracks.”
Laurie Lucinski
Georgetown