In COVID fight, churches, 49ers need to stop whining

With coronavirus infections in California threatening to overwhelm the state’s hospital intensive care unit capacity, Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday finally started talking about imposing a long- overdue shelter-in-place order.

The sooner the better — and the more lives will be saved. It’s been clear for weeks that such a mandate is desperately needed. And that was reinforced over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend as people up and down the state ignored pleas to stay home.

The mounting crisis prompted Dr. Sara Cody, Santa Clara County’s health officer who has repeatedly shown that she’s willing to make tough decisions rather than cave to political pressure, to issue new restrictions for her county. They include a ban on all contact sports, a mandatory 14- day quarantine for travelers from more than 150 miles away and strict new capacity limits for stores.

But the next essential step, a lockdown, won’t work in just one county. That’s why Newsom must act. Meanwhile, it’s up to all of us to do our part.

Unfortunately, examples over the holiday weekend show mounting indifference to virus dangers. We see it from our only remaining Bay Area professional football team, from places of worship and, as I’ll explain, even from one doctor from a prominent academic hospital.

Pandemic fatigue has set in, perhaps exacerbated by false hope that vaccines are days or weeks away for all of us. That was clear as I found friends who I thought understood the threat posting on Facebook about their Thanksgivings from distant destinations. Despite the pleas from health officials across the nation to stay home, household bubbles were repeatedly pierced by celebrations.

I get it. We miss our friends, our kids, our parents, our grandchildren and our grandparents. This has been tough. Many took extra precautions, getting tested before they traveled (which can provide a false sense of security), socially distancing and eating outside.

Yet we will almost certainly see a post-Thanksgiving surge from the travel and the gatherings, followed by commensurate numbers of deaths. This will get much worse before it turns around. Brace yourself for a tough winter ahead.

Prepare to make more sacrifices. If we care about the elderly, health care and other essential workers, and people who can only afford to live in crowded conditions, we will all do our part to slow the spread of this virus. Now.

And we’ll stop complaining about the restrictions imposed on us for our own and our society’s well-being. People with high public profiles need to set the example.

Instead, 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan ranted about how he didn’t get advance notice of Cody’s order. Please, spare us the “I’m special” whining. Anyone who didn’t see this coming hasn’t been paying attention.

It’s especially hard to feel sorry for Shanahan. Even though his team had a seasonhigh nine players on the NFL’s COVID-19 reserve list last week because of positive tests or close contacts, he was photographed with his mask around his neck after Sunday’s game as he hugged a player.

Next, for religious leaders who insist on holding services despite the risk, isn’t there a higher calling here? Many ministers and rabbis found ways to connect with their worshipers, and for the faithful to connect with God, without filling the pews and without waving the Constitution. It’s time to do it again.

Then there was the runner on my daily walk Sunday. Living near Piedmont’s western border, I often venture into the wealthy enclave for its wide, quiet streets that make it easy to drop into the roadway to avoid oncoming pedestrians.

Whenever I see someone near, I pull up my mask. But I don’t have eyes in the back of my head and I wasn’t prepared for the guy who nearly rubbed shoulders as he sprinted past without notice rather than using the street that was devoid of oncoming cars.

I give him credit for at least wearing a mask, but when a heated discussion ensued after I called him out from a distance, he made a point of saying that he was a UCSF intensive care unit doctor. Sigh. Apparently, in his mind, that made it all right — the 6-foot clearance didn’t apply to him.

Folks, we can’t just count on Cody and, perhaps, Newsom. For everyone’s sake, we need to do our part — now. I guess I need to pull up my mask even when no one is around. What are you going to do?