Gavin Newsom’s COVID-19 leadership falls woefully short
Gov. Gavin Newsom bears responsibility for the current surge of COVID-19 cases in California.
Early on, he wisely adopted Bay Area health officials’ strategy for controlling the coronavirus. It was working as the number of cases leveled off in early April. But then the governor, ignoring warnings from some of those same health officials to take it slow, reversed course and opened up the state much too fast.
The result: California is now plagued with a major spike of coronavirus cases. The numbers had been steadily increasing since late April but then started sharply rising in midjune. Each day now, the state’s seven-day trend line reaches record-high levels.
The increase in cases is not merely due to more testing; it’s also due to a larger percentage of those tested having the virus. The portion of tests that come back positive has increased more than 50% in the past 2½ weeks. Now, about 7% of those tested are infected.
Which helps explain why California hospitalizations for COVID-19 have increased 60% since June 13 and have surpassed the statewide peaks seen in April. Once again, some hospitals are preparing to stop doing elective surgeries so they can open up more beds for virus patients.
This is the scenario health experts — most notably, Santa Clara County Health Officer Dr. Sara Cody — warned about. While the state is better prepared than back in March, it’s still woefully short on testing and contact tracing needed to stem the spread of the virus.
And, this time, it lacks clear direction from its governor. While Newsom implores us to all do our part — to wear masks, wash our hands and socially distance — he has sent confusing and mixed messages about what constitutes compliance. He has teeter-tottered between warnings about the dangers of the virus and declarations of the urgent need to reopen the state’s economy.
Meanwhile, not even members of his own health department are clear on how the rules differ from county to county. Little wonder people are confused.
Unlike President Donald Trump, Newsom clearly understands the dangers and science of COVID-19. But, like the president, California’s governor loves to hear himself speak and when put in front of a microphone will ramble for up to an hour without focus — undermining critical warning messages.
Like Trump, Newsom keeps trying to push responsibility down to the next-lower layer of government. Trump says it’s up to the states to deal with the coronavirus; Newsom says it’s up to the counties.
Both leaders threatened that if they didn’t like the results, they would step in. Yet, the pushes by Trump and Newsom to reopen have undermined conscientious local health officials’ attempts to hold the line.
Finally, on Wednesday, Newsom acted, seeking to slow the damage created by his own policies. It was billed as a rollback, ordering bars and many indoor businesses in 19 counties to close their doors. But some of the counties on the list, such as Contra Costa and Santa Clara, had not yet reopened those businesses.
To be sure, Newsom shows far deeper understanding of the coronavirus threat than Trump and has modeled responsible behavior. Unlike the president, Newsom is not afraid to be seen in public wearing a mask. He doesn’t claim the virus will suddenly disappear. He’s not disconnected from reality.
Unfortunately, the governor has focused too much time in the past couple of months on the reopening side of the challenge rather than containing the virus. Meanwhile, California COVID-19 deaths have continued mounting, now at nearly 6,300. It’s shameful that nearly half are in senior care facilities and that the Newsom administration was pathetically slow to respond to that part of the crisis.
Until there’s a vaccine, the best treatment is widespread and systematic testing to ensure people don’t return to workplaces or otherwise venture out without first being checked for the virus.
Newsom regularly brags about the state’s increased testing and contact tracing. What he doesn’t mention in his nearly daily spin is that the state is conducting less than half as many tests as needed to reduce the spread of the virus and only about 11% of what’s required to reopen the economy, according to an analysis by researchers at Harvard.
For that testing to be effective in stopping the spread of the virus, it must be accompanied by sufficient tracing of those who were in contact with people who test positive for the virus. There, too, California has only about half of what it needs.
Newsom’s leadership has fallen woefully short. In the weeks ahead, we will see how short as the rising number of cases in California are followed by commensurate increases in hospitalizations and then deaths.
Sadly, that will be the ultimate measure of Newsom’s performance.