With virus cases down, California looks to reopen businesses

[TomCADem]

Source: Associated Press

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — While California faces multiple crises, there are encouraging signs in the coronavirus fight, with infection rates falling enough that Gov. Gavin Newsom said Monday that soon he will announce plans for reopening businesses that closed nearly two months ago when cases spiked.

“We are moving forward this week," Newsom said during a news conference on efforts to combat the virus and wildfires, which destroyed more than 1,000 homes and fouled the air over a large swath of the nation's most populated state.

Newsom called it a “very difficult period, where we’re battling this pandemic as we’re battling these wildfires all up and down the state of California.”

More than 100,000 people are tested for COVID-19 every day, though the wildfires have made it more difficult in some places, the Democratic governor said. Over the past week, the infection rate for those tested fell to 5.6%, a significant drop from a few weeks ago and well below the state's target of 8%.

Read more: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/with-virus-cases-down-california-looks-to-reopen-businesses/ar-BB18kgMB?ocid=hplocalnews

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The problem is that California is huge. California has more than 10 million more people than the next largest state, Texas. California has more Republicans than many "red" states have people. Thus, even though California is considered a "blue" state, California is also the home for some pro-Trump Republicans like Devin Nunes or Kevin McCarthy. Likewise, California is home to many anti-maskers:

https://www.newsweek.com/orange-county-californias-anti-mask-hotspot-sees-coronavirus-cases-spike-1519907

Orange County, California's Anti-Mask Hotspot, Sees Coronavirus Cases Spike

Novel coronavirus cases in California continue to rise, approaching nearly 421,300, with over 31,300 confirmed cases in Orange County, according to the latest report Tuesday on the state government website.

The county has the third-highest number of infections in the state, after Los Angeles County and Riverside County. It also has the fifth-highest daily case count (1,019), among all California counties, as of Tuesday, according to the state government website.

Orange County reported a 44.2 percent increase in new cases and 39 percent increase in new deaths on July 21, compared with the figures reported 14 days prior, according to the latest report Tuesday on the state government website.

As cases continue to surge across Orange County, several people have been defying California's statewide mask mandate in Huntington Beach.

[Steelrolled]

1. It's comical how Newsweek does not consider population

when comparing states. Division is just too hard I guess.

[Grokenstein]

2. Second verse, same as the first.

https://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/politics/emails-show-businesses-held-sway-over-state-reopening-plans/2391400/

Emails Show Businesses Held Sway Over State Reopening Plans

As South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster prepared to announce the end of a coronavirus stay-at-home order, his top staff received an email from the state health department.

The message, highlighted in bold, was clear: Wait longer before allowing customers back inside restaurants, hair salons and other businesses where people will be in close contact.

Instead, McMaster pressed ahead with a plan written by the state restaurant association to resume inside dining on May 11. The guidelines made masks optional for employees and allowed more customers inside than the health agency had advised.

A few days later, the Republican governor opened the doors to salons, fitness centers and swimming pools. He did not wait to gauge the effect of the restaurant reopening on the virus, as public health officials had suggested. Like many states, South Carolina later experienced a surge in infections that forced McMaster to dial back his reopening plan.

He was hardly alone. Thousands of pages of emails provided to The Associated Press under open-records laws show that governors across the U.S. were inundated with reopening advice from a wide range of industries — from campgrounds in New Hampshire to car washes in Washington. Some governors put economic interests ahead of public health guidance, and certain businesses were allowed to write the rules that would govern their own operations.

[Igel]

3. And yet their case rate and death rate is still higher than some other states

that people insist are nowhere near ready to open.

Problem is that in big states there's a lot of diversity as far as conditions on the ground go. Some places can open. Some can't. Some can have increasing case loads, others can have active cases declining.

[denem]

4. Keep the bars and clubs closed.

How difficult is that?

[aggiesal]

5. Huge mistake, current levels are still higher ...

then when he tried to open the first time.
Just wait another month or two.

[kimbutgar]

6. I have a cousin who lives in OC

She took her daughter back to college in Texas last week and said there were more mask wearers in the college town her daughters attends then in OC. She said very few people wear masks. Her father has dementia and kidney problems lives with her do she wears a mask all the time to not bring anything home to him and she said she gets dirty looks all the times because she wears her mask.

[OneCrazyDiamond]

8. That's scary.

Orange County is off the State's Covid Monitoring list. They met the threshold. Sounds like they will be back soon enough.

[progree]

7. its 21st highest state in daily new cases per capita, 7 day moving avg

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/coronavirus-us-cases.html

Scroll down to the "Cases and deaths by state and county" table.

Sort it by the per 100,000 column that follows the cases in last 7 day column

========================================================

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/california-coronavirus-cases.html
7 day moving average of new cases is back to where it was on June 30. Was not considered paradaisical on June 30, I don't think.

They show by county too on the map and table - it's true that it varies greatly from county to county. Looks like the worst 5 counties (again 7 day moving average of cases per 100,000) are all in the Central Valley.