San Diego Union-Tribune (Sunday)
Glimmer of good COVID news for us? Actually, no
On the coronavirus front, San Diego learned last week it is in better shape than neighboring counties and the state at large.
As the saying goes, there’s always someone worse off than you.
It’s tempting to grab onto anything that passes for positive news these days, but that doesn’t change the reality that the situation is bad here and just about everywhere, and it’s getting worse. That goes for both the coronavirus pandemic and the ever-more-toxic politics surrounding it.
There are some legitimate upbeat things happening, though — big and small.
Early results of coronoavirus vaccine trials have shown promise.
Locally, San Diego has adequate hospital capacity at the moment, in contrast with other parts of the state and nation.
And Mayor Kevin Faulconer led a move to quickly help some businesses affected by the latest statewide shutdown edict, allowing them to take their operations outside to parking lots, sidewalks and streets.
But a vaccine is a long way off, even if there are no bumps in the road and development is expedited.
Hospital capacity elsewhere has run or is running out — Los Angeles is one of the increasingly stressed areas — so San Diego’s status will continue to be tentative.
The effort to allow al fresco dining and retail is beneficial for some, but that doesn’t make up for lost business by being forced again to stop indoor service. Other businesses aren’t allowed by the state to open outside, or logistically can’t.
Meanwhile, the spread of the coronavirus is getting worse and will continue to worsen for some time, according to current data and projections.
County health officials last week noted San Diego’s coronavirus status relative
to surrounding Southern California counties in a matter-of-fact way. There was no crowing.
Positive tests are coming in at a higher rate than weeks ago, hospitalizations are rising and the county’s contact-tracing system is overloaded. People are still dying.
“The numbers are not declining, they’re continuing to increase ...” Dr. Wilma Wooten, the county’s health officer, said on Wednesday.
At the federal level, there seemed to be more focus by the Trump administration on undermining Dr. Anthony Fauci than the actual pandemic.
The director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases has become something of a folk hero to many Americans for giving his unvarnished view of the situation, which is increasingly grim and reflects poorly on the administration.
After anonymous leaks, sometimes with specious information, about Fauci, the president openly criticized him, saying the director “has made a lot of mistakes.”
Then Peter Navarro, the several times failed San Diego politician and fringe economist who has risen to prominence in the Trump administration, joined the fray.
But by the time his critical opinion column appeared in USA Today, the public was clearly backing Fauci in this fight. Trump and White House aides said Navarro had acted on his own and his piece was unauthorized.
However, an administration source dismissed the notion that Navarro had gone rogue, according to the Los Angeles Times.
“Not only was he authorized by Trump, he was encouraged,” the official said. The predictable White House denials ensued.
There was plenty wrong with Navarro’s column and USA Today later acknowledged it didn’t meet the newspaper’s fact-checking standards. USA Today also ran a story after the fact that said the column was misleading and lacked context.
While that sideshow was going on, things were getting worse on the ground in terms of both health and the economy.
The New York Times said new infection records and renewed lockdowns “could push the country back in a recessionary spiral.”
Earlier, a report was released with a more dire assessment.
“U.S. economy is in ‘Depression-like crisis’ and will not return to pre-recession peak until 2023,” according to the UCLA Anderson Forecast.
In California, Gov. Gavin Newsom responded to the surge in coronavirus cases by ordering more businesses to close again.
The frustration was even more palpable than the first time.
But back then, positive coronavirus trends and reopenings gave a false sense that we were over the hump, despite repeated warnings that continued progress required disciplined adherence to socialdistancing guidelines — not just by government and businesses, but everybody.
Unfortunately, a lot of people paid no heed.
Some have criticized
Newsom and local officials for caving to pressure and reopening too soon. Looking back, that may have been the case. But in an alternative reality, if everybody had done what they were asked when the economy opened up — and most did — how might things be different today?
People were understandably burned out by the initial monthslong shutdown, and many persevered at great sacrifice, in addition to those who were afflicted by COVID-19. Now it feels like we’re heading back to square one.
Amid the infection surge, new closures and alarming forecasts, people have expressed anger at Newsom and other government and health officials. But that has been the case for months.
Something else seems to be happening in the early days of the new shutdown. People “are turning on each other like never before,” according to another story by the Los Angeles Times.
A lot of stress is piling up: uncertainty over future federal assistance for businesses and out-of-work people, parents having to keep their children home for at least the start of the school
year, and renewed freedom to shop, dine and gather together being curtailed.
Much has been reported about obstinate customers refusing to wear masks while entering a business. Now, according to the Times, other folks are lashing out more aggressively at the mask-deniers.
“I’m angry with people that refuse to protect others,” said Dee Lescault, whose Costa Mesa hair salon was just shut down again.
The situation is grim, but that doesn’t mean substantial progress is out of the question if, yes, people would only wear masks.
Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said if everyone would wear a mask for one to two months “we can bring this epidemic under control.”
That seems so close, yet, given current attitudes, remains maddeningly far away.
Tweet of the Week
Goes to comedian Jim Gaffigan (@Jimgaffigan)
“I can’t believe it’s still March.”
michael.smolens@ sduniontribune.com