Despite pleas, crowds celebrate Cinco de Mayo.
Big gatherings and gridlock by revelers evoke scenes of previous holidays
SAN JOSE » People came out en masse to celebrate Cinco de Mayo in East San Jose and downtown Tuesday, spurning pleas from civic leaders to stay home and safely honor the holiday amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Crowds of people and cars prominently bearing Mexican flags flocked to parking lots at Story and King roads, which was also the site of packed weekend preholiday celebrations that elicited safety concerns from city officials and community leaders. Celebrants also filled what had been typically sparse downtown streets to the point that the area resembled rush-hour gridlock from before the COVID-19 outbreak spurred three consecutive stay-at-home orders from Santa Clara County health officials.
Observers said the revelry downtown resembled previous years’ celebrations and said that because many were staying in their cars, that social distancing measures in many cases appeared to be followed. But there were also
other instances in which people got out of their cars and lined sidewalks to watch the procession of vintage cars, muscle cars and lowriders.
San Jose City Council member Magdalena Carrasco — whose district encompasses Story and King and much of the portion of East San Jose with the largest celebrations — sympathized with the desire to be out after nearly two months of isolating but was steadfast about the need to continue adhering to the health order that runs through the end of the month.
“As the weather is warming up, folks are growing impatient and anxious. They hope to get back to some semblance of normalcy,”
Carrasco said in a statement to this news organization. “We cannot, however, let our guard down for a short-lived moment of celebration, as was the case this weekend, and risk new cases of COVID-19.”
For the most part, San Jose police followed through on their promises to conduct enforcement as they would any large holiday that attracts crowds, breaking up large crowds and primarily conducting traffic control and diversion. Police Chief Eddie Garcia has said officers would not risk anyone’s safety with confrontations based on health order violations.
Initial reports from San Jose police show that officers made one felony and one misdemeanor arrest and issued three criminal citations, four traffic citations and three municipal code citations and had three vehicles towed.
“Our emphasis was strictly on public safety, and we ended up having a relatively quiet night,” Garcia said. “We were able to keep Cinco (de Mayo) safe for everyone without eroding our community trust.”
The gatherings that took place Tuesday are prohibited under the county stay-at-home order that was extended this week. According to a county FAQ page, updated Tuesday, the order “prohibits all public and private gatherings with people who do not live in the same household or living unit” and that “parades, ceremonies, and similar gatherings with people outside your household are not allowed, even if everyone stays in their cars.”
But if that was always the intent of the order, it was not widely known or practiced. Numerous car-only parades, rallies, protests and drive-by birthday celebrations have been well chronicled as improvised ways to maintain social connections while staying safe. Some of those events even included police and City Council participants, like the April 20 celebration for the 100th birthday of “Rosie the Riveter” pioneer Mary Fierros. Adding to the confusion is the allowance for drive-in movie theaters to resume operation.
Still, scenes like what transpired Sunday and Tuesday risk “tarnishing” the image of Latinx residents in San Jose to the wider public, said Salvador “Chava” Bustamante, a longtime civilrights activist who currently serves as executive director and founder of Latinos United for a New America.
“It’s a disgrace. We have so many people who seem to show a lack of conscience of what’s going on,” Bustamante said Tuesday. “Not just the danger it represents for themselves but for the danger it represents for the community.”
The specific community danger Bustamante references is laid out in stark COVID-19 statistics: In Santa Clara County, as of Tuesday, Latinx people accounted for 38% of the nearly 2,300 confirmed infections despite being 27% of the county population.
But Carrasco said the South Bay has fared better than other comparable regions and wants to see that continue.
“Fortunately, we have not seen the staggering numbers in Santa Clara County that we have seen in other parts of the country,” she said, “and that is due to the cooperation of our residents who have been sheltering in place over the past eight weeks.”