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Smith fellow in health care policy at the Pacific Research Institute. Pipes is president, CEO and the Thomas W.
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But overly harsh and inconsistently applied rules that wreak havoc on people’s livelihoods can’t be the solution. No Californian wants the coronavirus to spread unimpeded. If they’re barred from safe places like playgrounds and sports fields, they’ll gather indoors in each other’s homes, which will only prolong the spike in cases. People will find ways to congregate with or without restrictions, because their sanity depends on it. In San Francisco, drug overdose deaths have actually exceeded those from the virus in 2020. By July, 44% of Californian adults had symptoms of depression or anxiety disorders. The number of people who are food insecure is up more than 2 million because of the pandemic.Īll the uncertainty and joblessness has also sparked a mental health crisis. During the first wave of such orders this past spring, California’s weekly unemployment rate shot up from 5% more than to 15%. Prolonged stay-at-home orders simply aren’t sustainable. Read more about our transparency and ethics policies
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Popular podcaster, former Obama speechwriter, and Los Angeles resident Jon Favreau has called communication about the rules from his county “atrocious” and delivered with “an overly officious chiding tone.” In LA, you’re not (technically speaking) allowed to go on a masked, distanced jog with one friend? Few people are going to abide by those rules and you lose your claim to being science-driven,” tweeted Nate Silver, editor in chief of the data-based news site FiveThirtyEight. It’s not just right-wingers condemning the arbitrary nature of the state’s stay-at-home orders. Indeed, as Newsom and San Francisco Mayor London Breed have shown, it’s never been easier to get a table at the ritzy French Laundry restaurant in Napa County! It’s hard to take the stay-at-home hectoring from California’s political class seriously, given that they’ve been setting such a poor example. In other words, Californians can pile indoors to complete their Christmas shopping in fairly risky conditions but haven’t been able to go to school or dine outside in relatively safe conditions. Malls statewide are reportedly violating such restrictions. Over two weeks in September, she discovered an infection rate of just 0.13% among students and 0.24% among adults.Īt the same time, indoor retail stores can legally remain open for the holiday rush - but are supposed to operate at 20% capacity. Brown University economist Emily Oster analyzed infection rates among nearly 200,000 students in states with open schools. More than 99% of California’s kindergarten through 12th grade students live in purple tiered counties, where in-person learning is generally prohibited, even though children rarely catch the virus in the classroom. School closures are also unjustified by the “science” so many lockdown enthusiasts fetishize. Renowned defense attorney Mark Geragos, a restaurant owner himself, recently filed a lawsuit against Newsom challenging the bans. Bars and restaurants represented just 3.1% of nonresidential outbreak locations in the county, according to court data.
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County’s outdoor dining ban an “abuse” of power. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge James Chalfant called L.A. Meanwhile, outdoor restaurant dining, a relatively safe activity, is currently banned in much of the state. According to a London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine database of more than 20,000 COVID-19 cases, only 461 - 2.3% - were linked to fully outdoor settings. Take Los Angeles County, which until recently had closed all playgrounds and barred small outdoor meetings, even though the risk of contracting the coronavirus outdoors is quite low. They’re also riddled with inconsistencies and often unjustified by public health data.
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These restrictions aren’t merely crippling California’s economy and harming residents’ mental health.
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