July 4th Maskless Masses Likely to Make San Diego Sick Again
California Governor Gavin Newsom spared San Diego on Wednesday as he ordered the closure of recently reopened bars and halted indoor operations at restaurants, movie theatres, museums and zoos across most of the state.
The question now is, will people from the surrounding areas take advantage of the relatively less restrictions in effect for the city and county?
Let’s face it, San Diego is a top destination for residents of Arizona, where the rate of positive tests over the past week is more than four times the statewide rate, and nearly five times the local rate.
https://twitter.com/paulkrugman/status/1278380041160863744?s=20
Riverside County to our north now has ICU capacity at 99%. The state’s worst outbreak is in Imperial County and overwhelmed hospitals are sending patients to San Diego.
Health officials say our area is already on the cusp of a shutdown, since the county continues to see more than 100 cases per 100,000 residents. There has been an average of 105 cases per 100,000 residents for the past 14 days.
Supervisor Nathan Fletcher Tweeted, “Once you are ‘flagged’ as abnormal, you are monitored for 3 days. If your numbers don’t move below threshold on day 4 you are officially placed on state ‘watch list’.” Another three days on the watch list and shutdown across the board are mandated.
UPDATE: A record number of coronavirus cases were reported Thursday in San Diego County, prompting the state to notify the county it will be placed on its "monitoring list" Friday.
A record 584 new cases were reported heading into the Fourth of July holiday weekend, bringing the county's total to 15,207. This was the sixth time in a week the number of daily cases have been more than 400.
A record 10 community outbreaks were reported, raising the one-week count to 22. This was well over the limit of seven the county set for itself, with a series of 13 triggers.
Eight of the new outbreaks — defined as three or more COVID-19 cases in a setting and in people of different households — were reported in restaurants and bars. One was traced to a grocery store and one in a business. Of the week's 22 outbreaks, 14 were traced to restaurants or bars.
While some areas in California are closing beaches, most of the San Diego shoreline remains open to the public. As Fletcher noted on Wednesday, “the reality is that we don't have any data to support that action. There are zero outbreaks tied to outdoor settings (protests, parks, beaches). And so it would not make sense to close the beaches.”
What is worrisome is what tourists will do before and after they go to the beach. Half the outbreaks over the past week have been traced back to restaurants and bars. Family gatherings have been another major source of outbreaks throughout California.
KUSI-TV, which seldom misses an opportunity to publicize anti-shutdown peabrains, had Sully Sullivan on air questioning why County Health Officials are blaming bars for new COVID cases, saying he “thinks” the spike may be coming from protests and increases in testing.
California’s Trumpets have responded to resetting restrictions by complaining about the impact on businesses and name-calling.
This either/or game being played by those who have sanctified profit represents a false choice, and the spikes in COVID-19 cases throughout the country are the result.
https://twitter.com/justinhendrix/status/1278334289134977026?s=20
The paltry amount of cash generated by politically motivated too rapid openings will pale in comparison to the negative long term impact on the economy, and the morale of the citizenry.
The real problem, however, isn’t tourists coming to town. It’s the people who continue to refuse to wear a mask and abide by a few simple safety measures.
https://twitter.com/aborunda/status/1278508204989673472?s=20
Despite the President’s half step backward yesterday, coming on the heels of Fox News personalities finally conceding on the issue, not wearing a mask has become symbolic of the culture wars.
From Politico:
What actually determined the consensus conservative position on masks for the first four months of the pandemic had nothing to do with ideology, and it had nothing to do with science, either. It had to do with personality — specifically the personality of President Donald Trump. He was anti-mask and, as the political science literature predicts, the conservative movement rallied around his position.
After months of anti-mask messaging, Trump finally reversed himself today.
“I’m all for masks,” he said, adding that he would wear one if he were in a crowded room and noting that he had a black one on recently. “I sort of liked the way I looked.”
It’s only a matter of time until the president goes on Fox News and asserts that he’s always been in favor of wearing a mask, and anybody who says otherwise is generating “fake news.”
Trump’s initial actions (or mostly lack thereof) set the tone for his base, and I doubt many will make the switch to wearing a mask, especially because they know it upsets others. And saying “screw you I got mine” is dogma in MAGAt land.
A study encompassing reactions to COVID-19 in 198 countries found that quickly resorting to widespread mask-wearing brought about far lower death rates and shorter outbreaks.
“What we found was that of the big variables that you can control which influence mortality, one was wearing masks,” says Christopher Leffler of Virginia Commonwealth University, one of the study’s authors.
“It wasn’t just by a few per cent, it was up to a hundred times less mortality. The countries that introduced masks from the very beginning of their outbreak have had hardly any deaths.”
Finally, a little entertainment….
https://youtu.be/6kOesPt7iBY
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