Dining crackdown epitomizes Newsom’s chaotic COVID-19 plan
When California Alcoholic Beverage Control agents came swooping into Morgan Hill last weekend ordering businesses to close their outdoor dining services, it epitomized the chaos created by Gov. Gavin Newsom’s directives for controlling the novel coronavirus.
Business owners were caught by surprise. City officials were dumbfounded. And county officials were completely perplexed. They thought they were following Newsom’s Resilience Roadmap regulations. And it seems they were.
The problem is that, after the governor laid out on April 14 his four-stage process for reopening the economy, the state granted variances to almost every county in California, allowing them to reopen faster. That contributed to the current spike in cases of COVID-19.
But it was not just the relaxation of the rules that was a problem. It was the resulting inconsistency from county to county. This has been especially true in the Bay Area, where counties started out unified in their approach and now operate under widely divergent health orders.
The potpourri of regulations makes it impossible to provide the public with a clear message of what’s permitted and what isn’t — and for residents and businesses, no matter how well-intentioned, to keep track and comply.
Meanwhile, COVID-19 cases in the state have reached record levels, along with hospitalizations and patients in intensive care. And of those getting tested, rapidly increasing portions are testing positive.
What’s needed are statewide rules — or at least regional ones set down by the state — that are clear and consistent. As we’re seeing from the spike in cases, the notion that each county should set its own policies is absurd when we’re dealing with a pandemic that doesn’t recognize political boundaries.
Back in March, the Bay Area counties were forced to unilaterally lead to save lives. It was the only option when there was no leadership coming from the White House, and the state, under Newsom, was lagging days behind.
Now, though, it’s time to get everyone working under the same guidelines — with the No. 1 objective being the public’s health. It’s time to stop pretending that fighting coronavirus and protecting the economy are coequal goals. Salvation of the economy first requires containing the virus.
It’s time for Newsom to communicate a clear strategy that works for Northern California, Southern California and the Central Valley. It should place a premium on safety first and slowing the infection rate to a degree that schools and businesses can reopen safely, as they have in other countries.
But he might not be up to the task. For the one thing he has lacked since he started down the path of reopening the economy is clarity. Newsom has created a statewide coronavirus monitoring and enforcement system that only a bureaucrat could love.
It was perhaps best captured last week when, with cases across the state surging, Newsom described how he would crack down on those not following the rules:
“The state will organize itself in a code and licensing perspective as well as a regulatory and fiscal perspective to engage with an education-first mindset and then a mindset of targeted enforcement to the extent it’s necessary in order to get people into compliance and get people back into a frame of mind that recognizes the magnitude of this moment.” Whew! Clear as mud.
But what are those rules? The irony of ABC’s crackdown last weekend is that Morgan Hill is in Santa Clara County, one of the few counties, along with Alameda, that did not have a variance. They weren’t trying to go faster than the governor’s original guidance.
Santa Clara County’s reading of the state rules was that outdoor dining was permitted. And the county had been allowing it for a month with no pushback from the state. Indeed, the state’s website seems to indicate the county was correct.
On Monday night, the state granted Santa Clara County its own variance. That’s unfortunate. It resolves the fight over outdoor dining by letting the county set its own rules. But it means that yet another county will impose its own set of regulations, exacerbating the inconsistency and confusion.
That’s not what we need. What we need is real leadership from the governor that includes clear rules that everyone can understand and follow.