It’s time to figure out an approach

It’s just four days before Christmas and if you told someone who didn’t know better that we’re under a stay-at-home order, they would never believe you.

Grocery stores, the mall and other retailers’ parking lots have been packed.

A trip down Rancho Vista Boulevard on Saturday afternoon was an exercise in patience, as vehicles milled through parking lots and on the street, trying to get from point A to point B.

It seems that Antelope Valley residents aren’t letting the pandemic interfere with their Christmas shopping.

We’re not the only ones, though. Traversing the northbound 5 Freeway to the northbound 14 Freeway late last week was definitely not for those in a hurry.

Traffic was backed up and moving very slowly. Maybe some were commuters, but aren’t most non-essential businesses supposed to be closed?

While most folks have probably already decided on how they’ll celebrate Christmas (with family members outside their household or not), we are facing another deadline a couple days after the holiday.

On Dec. 27, the current health order is set to expire. What does that mean? By the looks of things, it means a renewal — or worse yet — an even stricter order that will go into effect.

The scuttlebutt is that we will go into a stricter lock-down order for a month in January, in an attempt to “flatten the curve” once again. We’re not saying this will happen, but we think it’s a very good possibility.

When the current order was put in place the day before Thanksgiving, we were told that hospital ICU bed capacity would have to be at 15% before the order would be lifted. Just last week, we heard that there are no ICU beds available in Los Angeles County. We reached out to Palmdale Regional Hospital and Antelope Valley Hospital, to ask about our capacity in the AV, but neither responded.

Meanwhile, some businesses thrive while others suffer and face permanent closures. We know Los Angeles County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer and the powers that be are trying to keep us safe, but at what point do they acknowledge that people are no longer paying attention and their efforts are not working and instead, look for a different way to deal with the pandemic?

What worked in March, obviously isn’t working now. Maybe it’s COVID fatigue and the fact that people are tired of being in their homes. Or maybe it’s the fact that some can’t go out and make a living.

Whatever the case, some people have decided they’re not going to listen anymore — and some never did listen to begin with.

It’s time to find a new strategy to deal with this virus — one that doesn’t include making some people homeless or destitute, while others continue to thrive or barely hold on, financially.

Congressional leaders, on Sunday, finally reached an agreement on another stimulus package, which will include $600 direct payments to individuals, but given the overall economic picture, it’s a pittance that likely be spent before the money hits the bank.

It’s a start, but Americans need so much more than $600 to catch up on back-rent or mortgages that have fallen behind, bills and other areas in which they’ve been impacted financially.