To the Editor:

I am writing again, to voice my concerns regarding the opening of large venues such as Crossgates and Colonie Center malls.

The coronavirus has taken a serious toll on lives and life as we know it. We are watching this pandemic spread uncontrollably across the western and southern parts of this country. The number of new cases daily is staggering, yet the deaths moreso.

New York along with several other states took serious and confining actions to stop the spread of this horrible disease. We went into a serious lockdown — along with social distancing, obsessive hand-washing, use of sanitizer, and the wearing of masks — and, because of that, we were able to seriously stop the spread. No one has been happy with the lockdown, but it has worked.

We have a governor who literally took the bull by the horns and said, this is how it is going to be. We can debate many things about his approach and micromanaging of this pandemic, but it has worked. We are where we are because of his actions whether we like it or not.

Enter Phase 4 of reopening the Capital District. Malls were told that, in order for them to reopen, they needed to increase and improve their ventilation systems so that the coronavirus could be filtered out through the HVAC [heating, ventilation, air-conditioning] systems.

That was complied with, and now the general public can now shop at Crossgates as well as other malls. So, what do we see ...? People at Crossgates who are either not wearing masks, have them pulled down below their mouths, or pulled down below their noses. There is also minimal social distancing.

How can this be safe? Who is responsible for ensuring compliance with the governor’s orders? Is anyone watching? Where are the police who are assigned to the mall? Is it their job to ensure compliance? How is compliance/ non-compliance being monitored? Are their citations being given? Was this actually thought through beforehand?

I don’t know about others, but I certainly don’t want to see an increase in the cases of this virus in this town. It will only bring us back to where we were a couple of months ago. We cannot afford this on many fronts.

No, we don’t like masks; no, we don’t like being told to follow the arrows; no, we don’t like to keep socially distanced. That being said, our survival depends on our ability to keep this pandemic at bay and not overtake us again.

Yes, it has been very hard on all of us — some have survived the virus, many have been out of work, children have been out of school for an extended period of time, many are working from home. Life has not been easy.

We need to be more careful now as we move forward. Please, wear your masks; keep your distance; and, if you don’t, be prepared to suffer the consequences. Let’s just hope those consequences don’t include injury to others.

Needless to say, Crossgates will get none of my business. If there is so little compliance now, how will it be monitored and how can the safety of patrons be safeguarded when people don’t follow a couple of simple rules?

Robyn Gray

Guilderland