Newsom: Counties making a ‘mistake’
Yuba, Sutter, reopening in defiance of health order, are ‘putting their public at risk’
Gov. Gavin Newsom on Tuesday sharply criticized two Northern California counties that have defied his health guidelines and begun to reopen restaurant dining rooms, gyms, hair salons and shopping malls.
“They are making a big mistake. They are putting their public at risk,” Newsom said of Yuba and Sutter counties. “They are putting our progress at risk. These are exceptions. The overwhelming majority of Californians are playing by the rules and doing the right thing.”
The issue highlights the latest example of local communities bucking Newsom and state public health leaders’ orders as the coronavirus pandemic drags on, and the delicate balancing act he is trying to perform between limiting the spread of the disease while governing a huge state with 40 million residents and dramatically different economies, politics and rates of COVID-19.
The two counties, north of Sacramento, are mostly rural. Yuba County has
72,000 residents and Sutter County about 95,000. Combined, they have 50 reported cases of COVID-19 and three deaths. By contrast, the Bay Area, with more than 7 million residents, 9,096 cases and 330 deaths, has more stringent rules that generally allow only “essential” businesses, including supermarkets, banks and gas stations, to operate.
Last week, the health officer for both Yuba and Sutter, Dr. Phuong Luu, issued a new health order that allowed a much wider range of businesses to open than nearly every other county in California. The new rules took effect Monday.
“COVID-19 is dangerous and scary but it is not the only health issue,” Luu said in a statement Monday. “We cannot wait for
a vaccine without seeing extreme economic damage done to our community. The consequences of waiting will be additional health concerns brought on by stress and the very real dilemma for those with limited resources whether to buy life-saving food or lifesaving medicines. As the bi-county health officer, I have to think of the totality of health for the entire community.”
Luu’s order allows dinein restaurants, retail operations, shopping malls, construction, real estate businesses, gyms and fitness studios, hair salons and barbershops, nail salons, spas, massage-therapy centers and tattoo parlors in the two counties to operate as long as they follow safety guidelines and draw up a plan to keep customers at least 6 feet apart and require employees to regularly clean and disinfect.
The number of COVID-19 cases in the two counties “has plateaued” for the past three weeks, she said.
Asked about the major loosening of rules at his Tuesday news briefing, Newsom said the plans are premature and dangerous.
“They put those businesses at risk and the health of their communities at risk,” the governor said.
“We believe in ready, aim, fire — not ready, fire, aim,” he added.
But leaders in the two outlier counties defended the decision to open.
“In the North State, our communities have met the scientific criteria for reopening, and we’re not going to wait for San Francisco and Los Angeles in order to reopen,” said Assemblyman James Gallagher, R-Yuba City. “If this is truly about science and not politics, the governor shouldn’t push back against local public health officers.”
Despite his criticism of the two counties Tuesday, Newsom did not indicate whether there will be any state enforcement of his shelter-in-place rules or other consequences for local communities that violate his orders.
“I think he’s hoping that persuasion works,” said Jack Pitney, a professor of political science at Claremont McKenna College. “Heavy-handed enforcement could itself be unpopular. If it’s not enough, he has yet another difficult choice. What does he do by way of consequence? I don’t envy his job right now.”
Modoc County, located in remote northeastern California on the Oregon border, allowed businesses, schools and churches to reopen Friday. The county, with 10,000 residents, has not reported a single case of coronavirus.
That’s not the case statewide. On Tuesday, there were 58,618 cases statewide and 9,096 in the greater Bay Area. There also were 93 new deaths reported in California on Tuesday, bringing the total number statewide to 2,375, according to data compiled by this news organization.
Generally speaking, Californians support the shelter-in-place rules, polls show. A survey of 8,800 registered state voters released Friday by the UC Berkeley Institute of Government Studies found that by 69%30% Californians said they are more concerned about the health effects of ending the shelter-in-place rules too soon than the economic effects.
California put in place shelter-at-home rules before other states and has a lower death rate than other states. Newsom reiterated Tuesday that he plans to announce new rules later this week to allow more businesses statewide, including bookstores, florists, clothing stores and sporting goods stores, to reopen starting Friday, as long as they make sales at the curbside, have employees wear masks and take other precautions. The announcement does not include offices, seated dining at restaurants, or shopping malls or schools. And county health officers still will be allowed to keep tighter restrictions in place if they feel they are needed.
Newsom noted Tuesday that as stores and other businesses open across the state in the coming days and weeks, Californians should be prepared for a different experience.
“We’re not going back to normal,” Newsom said. “It’s a new normal with adaptations and modifications, until we get to immunity and a vaccine.”
Last week, after seeing images of big crowds on Southern California beaches, Newsom administration officials considered closing every beach in California and all 280 state parks. After reportedly receiving pushback from Democratic elected officials, he announced that only beaches in Orange County would be closed, a move that set off lawsuits and protests there.
Tuesday, Newsom announced his administration had reached a compromise with three Orange County cities — Huntington Beach, Seal Beach and Dana Point — to reopen beaches. It came a day after compromises were worked out with Laguna Beach and San Clemente to open beaches, but only during limited hours, and if beachgoers were walking, running or otherwise exercising.
“It’s the spirit of collaboration and cooperation that’s necessary as we move forward,” he said.
The governor added, however, that people should continue to wear face masks, wash their hands and practice social distancing, in part because many people who have COVID-19 don’t always have symptoms, particularly at first.
“I think we can continue this progress as long as we continue to take seriously this virus,” he said.
“You may be young and healthy, but if you run up and give grandma a big hug, and all of a sudden, five or six days later, grandma is in the ICU.”
“Let’s not develop amnesia,” he added. “Let’s not run a 90-year dash.”