The Bay Area is growing increasingly isolated in its commitment to enforcing strict lockdown orders meant to stop the spread of coronavirus, as the United States on Wednesday recorded its 100,000th death from COVID-19 and California passed 100,000 confirmed cases of the illness.
With Gov. Gavin Newsom’s blessing, several counties are ramping up their efforts to reopen stores, churches, barber shops and salons — steps that move the state into the third phase of its four-phase reopening plan. Newsom met with gym owners Wednesday, and pledged that guidance for reopening fitness centers would be coming soon.
Even hard-hit Los Angeles County, after enforcing its own strict measures for several weeks, announced Tuesday that it would instead follow new state guidelines that allow religious services and in-store retail shopping to resume, albeit with certain restrictions meant to limit the spread of the virus.
But public health officials in the Bay Area have so far resisted pressure to follow suit, instead staying the course with a “slow and safe” approach that keeps those businesses waiting and watching — even as some restless residents push to resume normal life.
Local public health leaders who had been lauded for the shelter orders they instituted over two months ago are now facing mounting criticism that the Bay Area’s restrictions amount to economy-strangling overkill and are testing the limits of what the public is willing to endure.
Still, Santa Clara County Public Health Officer Dr. Sara Cody said her county will continue reopening sectors of the economy piece by piece — while waiting at least two weeks between changes to see whether they caused upticks in hospitalizations and deaths. She said her approach has helped save lives.
“If we make a change and we don’t pause to see what the impact has been, then we’re blind and we cannot see what our next action may do,” Cody said in a video posted to the county public health department’s Facebook page Wednesday. It can take up to two weeks for a person infected with coronavirus to begin experiencing symptoms.
Cody said California’s leaders have moved too quickly in easing restrictions, and it’s made it difficult to explain why it important to a more measured approach.
“The state is opening things at a very brisk clip (and) not waiting to see what the impact is,” Cody said.
While opinion polls have found strong support in general for restrictions to contain the virus, the slow pace of the Bay Area’s reopening has been agonizing for some businesses and residents. Many — although not all — religious leaders have vowed to hold church services in violation of the counties’ orders. A full-page ad in this newspaper, signed by former tech executive Paulette Altmaier, was directed at Cody “on behalf of the suffering residents of Santa Clara County.”
“Your public health department is operating as though nothing has been learned and nothing has changed” since the shelter order went into place in March, the ad stated. “Meanwhile, the economic damage from (sheltering in place) is fearsome and mounting.”
Los Angeles County officials moved to ease their restrictions despite being at the center of the state’s worst coronavirus outbreak.
The county, which is home to about 10 million of California’s nearly 40 million residents, accounts for nearly half of the state’s confirmed coronavirus cases and more than half of COVID-19 deaths. At 20.9 deaths per 100,000 residents, the death rate in Los Angeles County is nearly three times that of Santa Clara County, and double that of San Mateo County, which has the highest death rate per 100,000 residents in the Bay Area.
Other public health officials around the Bay Area are holding firm with Cody. San Mateo County Health spokesman Preston Merchant said the county is “continuing to take the more measured, gradual approach.”
Alameda County spokeswoman Neetu Balram similarly said officials are waiting between changes to see if they lead to new infections — noting that the county has seen an alarming uptick in cases a little more than three weeks after easing shelter in place orders in early May and one week after further revisions in the middle of the month.
Alameda County reported 63 new coronavirus cases Wednesday, for a total of 3,049 — the most positive tests of any Bay Area county. There have been 93 deaths from COVID-19 in Alameda County.
While Balram said some of that increase could be due to increased testing, she added, “We need to ensure we don’t let the rate escalate too quickly and overwhelm our healthcare system.”
San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Contra Costa and Alameda counties reported a combined 166 new coronavirus cases on Wednesday, bringing the Bay Area’s total to 11,483. Only one new death was reported, in Santa Clara County.
Statewide, California has now confirmed 101,648 coronavirus cases, and 3,910 people have died from COVID-19, according to data compiled by this news organization.
As Santa Clara County keeps its tight restrictions in place, the county has fallen behind in meeting the benchmarks it has set for reopening. Officials had hoped to hire about 700 contact tracers to track down people who may have been infected by those who tested positive for the virus, a process widely regarded as one of the most important steps toward safely reopening; as of this week it had hired just 50.
Jim Wunderman, president and CEO of the Bay Area Council, a business advocacy group, said his organization wants to see the region loosen restrictions and restart its economy safely, which will require extensive contact tracing and testing, more widespread use of face masks and a continued push to avoid gatherings.
“If we do those things and we do them well, then we should be able to open up the economy — and we have to open the economy,” Wunderman said. “We have to be responsible on both ends.”
Staff writers Kerry Crowley, Fiona Kelliher, Shayna Rubin contributed to this story.
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Author: Nico Savidge