Authorities across southern California are scrambling to contain large holiday crowds on beaches, boardwalks, and piers this weekend, anxious about a possible new surge in Covid-19 cases.
But they face a restive public eager to party in the sun after more than a year of lockdowns, and appear to have few tools at their disposal to enforce mask-wearing and social distancing.
Images of hundreds of largely maskless people crammed on to the Santa Monica pier or huddled around street performers on the Venice boardwalk over the past few days have raised concerns that spring break in the Golden state could spiral out of control, much as it has in Miami Beach, Florida, and trigger a superspreader event.
While the region’s vaccine rollout has significantly ramped up in recent weeks – roughly 50% of adults in Los Angeles county have received at least one shot – local public health officials are warning that it is too soon for the public to let its guard down.
LA’s public health director, Barbara Ferrer, warned people this week not to get “sloppy” by traveling and gathering with others.
That messaging, however, has been muddled by a rapid reduction in pandemic restrictions and by political leaders eager to deliver good news and restart the economy. Some theme parks reopened their doors this week, and outdoor bars and bowling alleys will be allowed to operate in Los Angeles again on Monday.
“Every metric we are following locally is headed in the right direction,” the LA mayor, Eric Garcetti, told reporters in an upbeat news briefing this week, in which he made only brief mention of the need to make spring break “a lower-key event this year”.
Garcetti’s tone contrasted starkly with that of Rochelle Walensky, the director of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), who said she had a sense of “impending doom” amid the uptick in infections in parts of the country.
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We will fight them on the beaches
We will fight them on the beaches
“If you trust in yourself, and believe in your dreams, and follow your star. . . you'll still get beaten by people who spent their time working hard and learning things and weren't so lazy.”
Re: We will fight them on the beaches
At a time we needed leadership like Churchill or Roosevelt, we got the troll in chief and now sleepy Joe. When we needed a Pershing like focused effort on dealing with this enemy we get Fauci, bouncing all over the place changing his mind on a weekly (if not daily basis) and telling a series of lies for our own good. Fortunately, the system as a whole is pretty solid and most people are reasonable.
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ex-khobar Andy
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Re: We will fight them on the beaches
The only change of mind I recall from Fauci was his original advice that masks were not necessary. This was at a time when the health care workers were sorely short of PPE. He later changed his mind when circumstances changed. That's hardly 'bouncing all over the place.' What's this 'series of lies'?
As a general note we know far more about the virus than we did a year ago, for both treatment and prevention. It's not surprising that advice changes as the evidence grows.
As a general note we know far more about the virus than we did a year ago, for both treatment and prevention. It's not surprising that advice changes as the evidence grows.
Re: We will fight them on the beaches
You missed the one about what % is needed for herd immunity; on that one, he admitted to lying because he did not think people could handle it. He has waffled all over the place on easing lock downs, no, we need more stringent lock downs, oh wait, maybe not that much, etc. Charitably, he has hit his sell-by-date. There are so many high quality, well-spoken infectious disease experts that are in the prime of their careers who would have been much better in that high profile position.
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ex-khobar Andy
- Posts: 5441
- Joined: Sat Dec 19, 2015 4:16 am
- Location: Louisville KY as of July 2018
Re: We will fight them on the beaches
You're talking about the NYT interview he gave in December. He made the point that he had changed his message about the point we might hope to achieve herd immunity for two reasons: one, because the science of transmissibility had changed; and two, because he thought that people were ready to hear the truth.
It's that second bit which gave rise to the accusations of lying. To me it's no different from encouraging someone who has a goal. If someone's goal or need is to lose 30 pounds, I don't think one is lying if, when they get to 15 pounds, you say well done, you are doing fabulously, you're nearly there! You might want to say - come on, this won't do, you've been at it for three months and you only have 15 pounds to show for it? Buck your ideas up. But you don't say that because you judge that a little untruth might help them to get to that goal.
It's that second bit which gave rise to the accusations of lying. To me it's no different from encouraging someone who has a goal. If someone's goal or need is to lose 30 pounds, I don't think one is lying if, when they get to 15 pounds, you say well done, you are doing fabulously, you're nearly there! You might want to say - come on, this won't do, you've been at it for three months and you only have 15 pounds to show for it? Buck your ideas up. But you don't say that because you judge that a little untruth might help them to get to that goal.