The governor of California loosened restrictions and allowed for many businesses to reopen. These businesses still had to follow social distancing rules and require masks. Some restaurants started to allow dine-in customers. This went on for a while, but coronavirus cases spiked and the number of cases per day skyrocketed. According to the CDC, Los Angeles County is receiving between 4,246 and 7,724 per day now compared to the 300 to 500 per day before reopening.
So this brings up many questions, did California reopen to early? What should have been done to prevent this spike of cases and still reopen safely? How will this affect California in the near future?
Hi Michael! In response to your questions, I believe California did open up too quickly. The cases are still increasing extremely fast in California, and in the United States overall. Over three hundred twenty eight thousand people are confirmed to have the virus in California, and none of them have recovered, according to Google (search up “covid-19” then go to statistics). More people may have the virus without knowing, which would spread COVID19 even more. The governor should’ve reopened California when cases have decreased continuously, not disproportionately (cases decrease then increase).
ReplyDeleteIn order to prevent a spike in cases and maintain public safety, better enforcement of social distancing should have occurred. Many large crowds on beaches, in restaurants, in bars, and other public places didn’t follow social distancing. If there’s no social distancing, transmitting the virus is way easier. Employees should keep customers away from each other by command, not just signs. Some customers can’t help but be close to people, so better enforcement is needed.
Because most people didn’t follow health protocols when restrictions were loosened, causing cases to go up significantly, California will probably go back to lockdown. As cases are still increasing, California may need to limit social interactions again, meaning a later opening will happen. This will cause schools and other public areas to reopen at a later time. Of course, this will affect the economy, but it’s for the safety of Californian citizens.
I do agree that social distancing should be enforced as many people don't seem to care. It is hard to monitor as people may be asymptomatic which is harder a trace. In terms of the way the governor reopened, he did by the positivity rate which in the whole state is about 8.4%. This can be disproportionate as you mentioned, which is why he is giving counties the power to decide how safe it is to loosen restrictions. Counties like los Angeles have a higher positivity rate at around 10% which is why we still have very strict guidelines.
DeleteI believe that California did not reopen too early. I actually think that we should be able to go out and function as a community to give back people jobs. It is true that there are more cases now than before, but it is also true that most cases that lead to death are caused by either underlying health conditions or old age. The best way to approach this is to keep the vulnerable people safe by having them quarantined, but the rest of us should be able to go on with life, of course socially distant and with face coverings. The number of cases will rise, but the number of deaths will surely fall.
ReplyDeleteI really like this question because its very opinionated. Although I do believe California opened at the right time but when everything really started opening, people took it with a grain of salt and let go of their precautions and safety measures from the quarantine. Californians were too eager to go outside and hang out with their friends after almost four months of staying inside which caused an increase of the second wave of covid cases.
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