After good start, California loses ground on virus

LOS ANGELES: When the coronavirus pandemic first snowballed in the United States, California was hailed for its handling of the crisis. But now, the Golden State - like many others across the nation - is facing a worrying uptick in the number of cases, especially among young people. California was the first state to order a sweeping lockdown in mid-March and moved quickly to ramp up its testing capabilities - a key to keeping the virus in check, experts say.

Since the start of the crisis, some 3.7 million Californians out of a total of about 40 million have been tested for the new coronavirus. This week, the state did about 100,000 tests a day. Is that significant increase in testing the explanation for the virus’s seeming resurgence? Experts say it only paints part of the picture. “The fact that there’s also an increase in the number of hospitalizations suggests that it’s not just because of the testing,” said Lee Riley, an epidemiologist at the University of California, Berkeley.

“That means that there are more transmissions occurring.” Governor Gavin Newsom says the number of patients hospitalized with COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus, jumped 32 percent in the last two weeks, to more than 4,200. The specific reasons are hard to pinpoint, but experts say the likely culprit is quarantine fatigue and a relaxing of behaviors meant to curb the spread, among young people.

As lockdowns have been gradually lifted, more and more people are gathering without respecting social distancing guidelines or wearing face masks. “We cannot continue to do what we have done over the last number of weeks,” said Newsom, who made wearing masks in public spaces obligatory last week. “Many of us, understandably, developed a little cabin fever. Some, I would argue, have developed a little amnesia. Others have just frankly taken down their guard.”

Officially, members of different households in California are still not supposed to mingle in close quarters indoors. But as the state’s massive economy has reopened, with stores, restaurants and gyms all ready for business, residents have been getting together once again for birthday parties, summer barbecues and beach trips. “I’m not naive - people are mixing,” Newsom said. “And that is increasing the spread of this virus.” — AFP