OPEN-AND-SHUT CASE?

Rules on activities, commerce breed confusion, writes Michael Smolens.

Are we open? Are we not open? Have we always been open?

Many have rejoiced at the gradual reopening of beaches and parks and, starting Friday, more businesses.

But with the loosening of restrictions on outdoor activities and varying interpretations about the business shutdown in the first place has come confusion, willful ignorance and defiance. That’s bound to grow as more restrictions are lifted while stay-at-home orders remain in place.

To be sure, it appears the vast majority of San Diego County residents have heeded social-distancing guidelines as best they can to help combat the deadly coronavirus.

Officials have repeatedly lauded the citizenry, pointing to the progress made to slow the spread of infections. But while most San Diegans are following the rules, plenty are not.

Mayor Kevin Faulconer and county supervisors had a lot at stake in ensuring beachgoers adhered to limited activities not only for public health reasons, but so San Diego could be seen as a positive example compared with Orange County, where packed beaches led Gov. Gavin Newsom to order them closed temporarily.

By virtually all accounts, local residents largely restricted their beach outings during the first opening weekend to walking, jogging, swimming and surfing. Under the guidelines, people are supposed to get their exercise and then go home.

The relatively few people who sat down, or otherwise tried to linger, were asked to keep moving by police officers, who have been out in force along the shoreline.

In some cases, that presence didn’t deter activities that don’t square with the rules. In addition to walkers and surfers along Sunset Cliffs, people were regularly sitting in twos and threes on automobile rooftops, while others sat together in the back of hatchbacks and vans. They were not 6 feet apart, nor performing an essential activity.

Most of that was within line of sight of officers cruising in patrol vehicles or stationed at the cliffs. Occasionally, an officer could be seen addressing people standing together on the cliffs, presumably to ask them to keep moving. But it did not appear that hanging out was being discouraged in a systematic way.

Elsewhere, handfuls of people were closely gathered on patios and parking areas at beachfront rentals and residences, often with cocktails in hand and sometimes with food cooking on a grill.

Such activity isn’t just found in beach areas. Farther inland, some residents who seemingly have been staying at home have occasionally entertained small groups of guests in their yards.

It’s important to point out that these are anecdotes, and while there are many culled from my own observations and others passed along by acquaintances, there’s little doubt most people are trying to do what officials like to say is “the right thing.”

However, it does raise a question about what “stay at home” means when social-distancing rules are bent to accommodate a cookout with friends.

Police can’t be everywhere, but even when they are around, they seem to be letting some things slide. Maybe that’s wise. Taking a light hand toward violators rather than harshly cracking down may encourage people to abide rather than rebel.

Still, we’re told there are a lot of unwitting asymptomatic coronavirus carriers who could change the COVID-19 equation for the worse if they’re not careful.

Understanding the rules for business may be even more of a challenge. For one thing, it’s not clear that what’s being allowed starting Friday under Newsom’s reopening guidelines will be much different than what has been happening all along, according to a report this week by Brittany Meiling of The San Diego Uniontribune.

Businesses deemed “nonessential” were ordered to shut down but continued to offer their wares almost since the beginning. Whether that is allowed under existing rules is unclear.

“Big chains like Nordstrom, Kohl’s, Gamestop and JOANN Fabrics have had drive-up and curbside pickup throughout much of the shutdown,” Meiling wrote.

That’s exactly the kind of limited retail opening Newsom said can happen — starting Friday. Some smaller stores have been engaged in the same activity, but others have not.

The owner of one business, a secondhand sporting goods store in Pacific Beach, said that, given the rules, he decided to close even though he sold bicycles, which have been deemed essential transportation. When he saw the Big 5 Sporting Goods chain continuing to sell, he reopened for curbside pickup.

Concerns about fairness have frequently been raised. Stores like Walmart are open because they provide essential goods such as toilet paper and food, but they can also sell greeting cards and other nonessential items. Yet smaller card and knickknack shops were supposed to close.

Given that recent history, and the defiance of a few Northern California counties moving to reopen their economies ahead of Newsom’s OK, it’s a good bet that some businesses will go beyond the intent of Friday’s guidelines.

Inconsistencies and inequities in how the stay-at-home and shutdown orders have been carried out and followed shouldn’t come as a surprise.

Nothing like this has happened in more than 100 years, and government and health officials are working hard to save lives, even if their methods are disputed.

But then, when brewpubs were allowed to remain open for pickup, thereby deeming beer runs an essential activity, it’s understandable that some people may have asked, what isn’t?