Cases, hospitalizations, deaths decline
Pressure is building on Gov. Gavin Newsom to figure out a reopening plan after San Diego, California’s second-largest county, fell off the state’s coronavirus watch list Tuesday and hospitalizations, case rates and deaths continue to decline statewide.
The news came a few days after Santa Cruz was also removed from the watch list, though outbreaks continue to flare in the Central Valley and in some rural counties — including five added to the watch list Monday.
The state doesn’t currently allow indoor businesses to reopen in counties no longer on the watch list, though Newsom said Tuesday new guidelines are “very shortly forthcoming.”
- San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer on Friday: “What does a county do when it gets off California’s COVID watch list? No one knows because state guidelines haven’t been set. … (This) exacerbates an increasingly difficult economic situation, and undermines the credibility of and compliance with the state’s public health order.”
Hundreds of hair salons, barbershops and tattoo parlors across the state pledged to reopen for indoor service Monday — exactly five months after they were first shut down — and stay open as long as possible.
- Lu Garcia Reynoso, owner of Barber Society in Gardena: “On one side I can lose it all. But if I wait around for another five months, I’m gonna lose it all anyway.”
Meanwhile, two private Christian schools in Fresno County reopened in defiance of state orders, and another in Sacramento reopened under the guise of day care. Some California schools are holding day care programs in their classrooms, where students work on distance learning under the supervision of a substitute teacher.
Schools are eligible to reopen in counties that stay off the watch list for 14 days, though day care and elementary schools can reopen under different conditions — uneven and contradictory standards in the eyes of some superintendents and elected officials.
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The coronavirus bottom line: As of 9 p.m. Tuesday night, California had 632,667 confirmed coronavirus cases and 11,342 deaths from the virus, according to a CalMatters tracker.
Other stories you should know
1. Newsom declares another statewide emergency
Newsom declared a state of emergency Tuesday in response to more than 30 wildfires raging across California amid a record-setting heat wave that caused the state’s first rolling blackouts in nearly two decades. The Golden State is now dealing with two official statewide emergencies — and the coronavirus pandemic is complicating some residents’ fire evacuation efforts.
- Newsom: “We are deploying every resource available to keep communities safe as California battles fires across the state during these extreme conditions.”
Though California managed to avert blackouts Monday night — despite predictions of a massive energy shortfall — the manager of the state electric grid said Tuesday outages were “imminent.”
President Donald Trump waded into the fray Tuesday, tweeting California “Democrats have intentionally implemented rolling blackouts.”
- Newsom shot back: “Cal ISO (the state electric grid manager) is a federally regulated agency, and they’re the ones responsible for the orders to pull back on the load.”
2. Lawmakers size up police reform
Both Newsom and lawmakers promised sweeping change in the wake of George Floyd’s death at the hands of Minneapolis police — but will anything materialize before the legislative session ends in less than two weeks? Lawmakers are currently considering at least 15 police reform bills, but one that would permit cop decertification is likely doomed, while another that would involve the attorney general in certain deadly force investigations is facing new opposition, CalMatters’ Raheem Hosseini reports. And amid a massive budget crisis that has led the state to tap into its rainy day fund, lawmakers are weighing whether California can afford the price of reform.
- State Sen. Scott Wiener, a San Francisco Democrat: “This is a challenge to the entire Legislature. We can’t just have a few wins this year … and then just go back to business as usual.”
3. How California progressives are handling a virtual convention
Supporters peer through the window during a Bernie Sanders presidential campaign event at Craneway Pavilion in Richmond on Feb. 17. Photo by Anne Wernikoff for CalMattersNormally the Democratic National Convention, which runs through Thursday, would be an opportunity for progressive California delegates to push their party — and presidential and vice-presidential nominees Joe Biden and Kamala Harris — left. But it’s a little harder to cause a ruckus or stage a walkout over Zoom, which has given the party more control of its message, CalMatters’ Ben Christopher reports. Nevertheless, California progressives are still getting their point across, with U.S. Rep. Ro Khanna of Fremont voting last week against the party’s platform, largely because it didn’t include Bernie Sanders’ Medicare-for-All proposal. Khanna was named co-chair of California’s delegation in June amid pressure from progressives — typically, that honor goes to the governor. Still, many of Sanders’ California delegates said they plan to vote for Biden in November.
- Delegate Marcy Winograd of Santa Barbara: “We want to be clear: We are saying, ‘Vote for Joe Biden.’ But we are going to make our demands known. And once he gets elected, there will be no honeymoon.”