latimes--2020-05-08--Review: Jerry Brown gets the biography he deserves

For decades , Californians watched , analyzed , criticized and voted for Edmund G. Brown Jr. And for all that , he remains one of the most captivating , bewildering , inspiring and infuriating figures in the state ’ s history .
He may also be the most quintessentially Californian , embodying an admixture of contemplation , activism and self-contradiction at the heart of a nation-state with a population bigger than Canada ’ s .
Jim Newton has been preoccupied with and fascinated by Jerry Brown for a lifetime , and his new biography , “ Man of Tomorrow , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ governor who shaped the state that has always reached the American future before the rest of the country .
Brown left his footprints on the cities , suburbs , coasts , rugged uplands and arid deserts of California during a lifetime in public office .
So much of his story is known — so much of it has been chronicled in these pages — that the story Newton lays out may seem familiar .
But it is the play of this man of the mind against the experience of a veteran newsman — @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Times , now affiliated with UCLA — that makes this volume a formidable contribution to the history of both the state and the country .
Newton , who has published biographies of Dwight Eisenhower and Earl Warren , writes with verve , grace and the advantage over past Brown biographers of covering the finished product , rather than a work in progress .
Let ’ s start at the beginning , for it helps us understand where Brown and California end up .
Drawn to the confines of the seminary , Brown intended @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , as he put it , “ to overcome the self-indulgent , weak part of human nature.
” This would turn out to be a lifelong goal .
He picked grapes and picked over the Bible , thinking he had picked the right way to traverse the world : through “ abnegation and continuous mortification.
” These would be his watchwords and guideposts , making him , as Newton puts it , “ subservient to God and mindful of nature and its immutable commands.
” The rhythms and nostrums of the seminary appealed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ him .
Newton portrays him as an oddity in American civic life , “ a pragmatic liberal deeply committed to faith.
” He came of age in a cassock but lived for a cause .
He and his father , Gov .
Pat Brown , had an affectionate but uneasy relationship that Newton sketches with skill , and in his comparisons between father and son he sets the younger Brown in sharp relief : “ His son would ... never , once he reached power , be accused of glad-handing — dealmaking , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ not out of uncertainty.
” Making a decision that haunted him as much as it defined him , Brown left the Jesuits .
But they didn ’ t leave him , even as Zen teachings followed — “ a fresh dogma-free alternative ” to Catholicism , Newton says , freighted with “ a familiar grammar , imbued with a fresh vocabulary.
” In the early life of Jerry Brown , as in the early pages of this book , Newton sets out his central theme : “ Over time , the sturdy rope @ @ @ @ @ @ @ shaped Brown ’ s appetite for the great ideas of politics — notions otherwise as disparate as capital punishment , nuclear weapons and climate change — all of which had in common a necessary humility before fearsome powers such as death , destruction , the earth itself.
” All the rest , as a sage from the Jewish faith tradition put it centuries ago , is commentary .
And there is plenty of commentary in these 448 pages , and people too : Willie Brown , Henry Waxman , Richard Nixon , Alan @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , Joan Didion , Ken Kesey , Charles Manson , Linda Ronstadt , Cesar Chavez , Patty Hearst , Harvey Milk , Jim Jones and the medfly .
Newton has produced a history of California as much as a biography of Brown .
But the reader comes back to the 34th and 39th governor of California , and to the result of Newton ’ s deep examination of a man whose 16 years as governor were the longest reign in the state : “ [ H ] e walked a path of tradition @ @ @ @ @ @ @ — contradiction , some might say — helped reinforce his detachment from the currents of the day .
He could seem to outsiders so utterly modern , with his youth and girlfriends and talk of space exploration and technology , yet he was not and never would be a modernist .
While others plotted political strategy and reveled in showing Reagan the door , Jerry Brown read Wittgenstein and sat quietly in monasteries , rising early , saying little , thinking deeply.
” It wasn ’ t only Wittgenstein .
Newton plumbs the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Schumacher , Ivan Illich and Michel Foucault and unearthing the concept of “ subsidiarity , ” which translates in the political realm to decentralization — the delegation of solutions to those localities ( or even families ) most affected by the problem .
When Brown returned to the governor ’ s chair in 2011 after stints as mayor of Oakland and state attorney general , he was in a different period in his life — and California was in a different place too .
Brown had gone from wise guy to wise man @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a spendthrift ; the bullet train caught his eye and his imagination , though it also courted controversy .
“ It ’ s not always easy , ” Newton concludes , “ to be a man of tomorrow.
” It was not always easy to live down Brown ’ s yesterdays either .
“ I ’ m 79 , John , ’ ’ he told Sen. John McCain , who was then 80 .
“ I don ’ t have to bull— anymore.
” He didn ’ t .
I had a half-hour @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Capitol , in his last hours as governor .
He spoke a little Latin , maybe just for fun or for show , and of course he ranged from the Austro-Hungarian empire to the way Costco packages its milk , with a slight digression into the philosophy of Carl Jung .
But nestled among his layer cakes of dependent clauses was a clear-eyed assessment of what he had accomplished and left unaccomplished — and what was left for others to do .
Newton saw that too .
“ As Brown left office , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ but of shocking poverty and glaring inequality as well , ” he writes .
“ And yet the standard of successful leadership is not the elimination of all problems but rather proof of progress .
By that measure , Brown was undeniably successful.
” In the end Newton calls Brown “ a gift to history.
” So is his book .
Man of Tomorrow : The Relentless Life of Jerry Brown Jim Newton Little , Brown : 448 pages , $ 30

Jerry Brown arriving in the Assembly for his first swearing-in as governor in 1975.
For decades, Californians watched, analyzed, criticized and voted for Edmund G. Brown Jr. And for all that, he remains one of the most captivating, bewildering, inspiring and infuriating figures in the state’s history. He may also be the most quintessentially Californian, embodying an admixture of contemplation, activism and self-contradiction at the heart of a nation-state with a population bigger than Canada’s.
Jim Newton has been preoccupied with and fascinated by Jerry Brown for a lifetime, and his new biography, “Man of Tomorrow,” is a thoughtful look at the governor who shaped the state that has always reached the American future before the rest of the country.
Brown campaigning in Riverside, April 26, 1974. (Associated Press)
Brown left his footprints on the cities, suburbs, coasts, rugged uplands and arid deserts of California during a lifetime in public office. So much of his story is known — so much of it has been chronicled in these pages — that the story Newton lays out may seem familiar. But it is the play of this man of the mind against the experience of a veteran newsman — once the editorial page editor of the Times, now affiliated with UCLA — that makes this volume a formidable contribution to the history of both the state and the country.
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Jim Newton, the author of ‘Man of Tomorrow: The Relentless Life of Jerry Brown.” (Steve Shroud / Little, Brown and Company)
Newton, who has published biographies of Dwight Eisenhower and Earl Warren, writes with verve, grace and the advantage over past Brown biographers of covering the finished product, rather than a work in progress.
Let’s start at the beginning, for it helps us understand where Brown and California end up. Drawn to the confines of the seminary, Brown intended to become a Jesuit priest — trying, as he put it, “to overcome the self-indulgent, weak part of human nature.” This would turn out to be a lifelong goal. He picked grapes and picked over the Bible, thinking he had picked the right way to traverse the world: through “abnegation and continuous mortification.”
These would be his watchwords and guideposts, making him, as Newton puts it, “subservient to God and mindful of nature and its immutable commands.”
The rhythms and nostrums of the seminary appealed to Brown, shaped him, motivated him. Newton portrays him as an oddity in American civic life, “a pragmatic liberal deeply committed to faith.” He came of age in a cassock but lived for a cause.
Brown with Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley, left, and L.A. County Sheriff Peter Pitchess in 1978, signing an anti-crime bill. (Associated Press)
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He and his father, Gov. Pat Brown, had an affectionate but uneasy relationship that Newton sketches with skill, and in his comparisons between father and son he sets the younger Brown in sharp relief: “His son would ... never, once he reached power, be accused of glad-handing — dealmaking, yes, but out of pragmatism, not out of uncertainty.”
Making a decision that haunted him as much as it defined him, Brown left the Jesuits. But they didn’t leave him, even as Zen teachings followed — “a fresh dogma-free alternative” to Catholicism, Newton says, freighted with “a familiar grammar, imbued with a fresh vocabulary.”
In the early life of Jerry Brown, as in the early pages of this book, Newton sets out his central theme:
“Over time, the sturdy rope that ran from Saint Ignatius to Zen shaped Brown’s appetite for the great ideas of politics — notions otherwise as disparate as capital punishment, nuclear weapons and climate change — all of which had in common a necessary humility before fearsome powers such as death, destruction, the earth itself.” All the rest, as a sage from the Jewish faith tradition put it centuries ago, is commentary.
And there is plenty of commentary in these 448 pages, and people too: Willie Brown, Henry Waxman, Richard Nixon, Alan Cranston, Mario Savio, Warren Christopher, Joan Didion, Ken Kesey, Charles Manson, Linda Ronstadt, Cesar Chavez, Patty Hearst, Harvey Milk, Jim Jones and the medfly. Newton has produced a history of California as much as a biography of Brown.
Brown, left, sits next to UFW leader Cesar Chavez at the graveside service for slain farmworker Rufino Contreras. (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)
But the reader comes back to the 34th and 39th governor of California, and to the result of Newton’s deep examination of a man whose 16 years as governor were the longest reign in the state:
“[H]e walked a path of tradition while also inviting discovery. That tension — contradiction, some might say — helped reinforce his detachment from the currents of the day. He could seem to outsiders so utterly modern, with his youth and girlfriends and talk of space exploration and technology, yet he was not and never would be a modernist. While others plotted political strategy and reveled in showing Reagan the door, Jerry Brown read Wittgenstein and sat quietly in monasteries, rising early, saying little, thinking deeply.”
It wasn’t only Wittgenstein. Newton plumbs the Brown mind, finding traces of E.F. Schumacher, Ivan Illich and Michel Foucault and unearthing the concept of “subsidiarity,” which translates in the political realm to decentralization — the delegation of solutions to those localities (or even families) most affected by the problem.
During his second tenure as governor, Brown holds the signed copy of a minimum wage bill. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)
When Brown returned to the governor’s chair in 2011 after stints as mayor of Oakland and state attorney general, he was in a different period in his life — and California was in a different place too. Brown had gone from wise guy to wise man, from skinflint to a bit of a spendthrift; the bullet train caught his eye and his imagination, though it also courted controversy. “It’s not always easy,” Newton concludes, “to be a man of tomorrow.”
It was not always easy to live down Brown’s yesterdays either. “I’m 79, John,’’ he told Sen. John McCain, who was then 80. “I don’t have to bull— anymore.”
He didn’t. I had a half-hour with him, there in the state Capitol, in his last hours as governor. He spoke a little Latin, maybe just for fun or for show, and of course he ranged from the Austro-Hungarian empire to the way Costco packages its milk, with a slight digression into the philosophy of Carl Jung. But nestled among his layer cakes of dependent clauses was a clear-eyed assessment of what he had accomplished and left unaccomplished — and what was left for others to do.
Newton saw that too. “As Brown left office, he left a California of great wealth but of shocking poverty and glaring inequality as well,” he writes. “And yet the standard of successful leadership is not the elimination of all problems but rather proof of progress. By that measure, Brown was undeniably successful.” In the end Newton calls Brown “a gift to history.” So is his book.
Man of Tomorrow: The Relentless Life of Jerry Brown
Jim Newton
Little, Brown: 448 pages, $30


latimes--2020-05-08--Mystery syndrome similar to Kawasaki disease linked to coronavirus at Children's Hospital Los Angele

Mystery syndrome similar to Kawasaki disease linked to coronavirus at Children's Hospital Los Angeles

Three patients at Children ’ s Hospital Los Angeles who displayed symptoms similar to Kawasaki disease , a rare condition that can weaken blood vessels in children , have tested positive for antibodies against the novel coronavirus , indicating a potential link between the little-understood syndrome and the virus , according to a doctor who studies Kawasaki disease .
Recently , doctors in Los Angeles , New York and the United Kingdom have identified a condition called pediatric inflammatory multi-system syndrome , or PIMS , among children who have tested positive for antibodies against the novel coronavirus , Dr. Jacqueline @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s Hospital Los Angeles , said in an interview .
The presence of such antibodies indicates the children were previously infected with COVID-19 , the disease caused by the coroanvirus , she said .
“ The fact their antibodies came back positive means this inflammation may be a response to a COVID-19 infection in the past , ” Szmuszkovicz said .
She stressed that doctors and researchers around the world are still working to make sense of the finding : “ We are learning every day about this new syndrome.
” The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of Kawasaki disease , a rare condition with about only 5,500 diagnosed cases a year in the United States , Szmuszkovicz said .
The symptoms include a high , persistent fever ; swollen hands and feet ; red , cracked lips ; a red tongue ; and red eyes .
Left untreated , it can cause aneurysms in the coronary arteries , Szmuszkovicz said .
On Wednesday , New York state ’ s Department of Health said it had identified 64 suspected cases of PIMS “ potentially associated ” with COVID-19 .
“ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with this syndrome have tested positive for SARS-COV-2 or corresponding antibodies , ” the department said in an advisory to hospitals and local health departments .
Two days earlier , Demetre Daskalakis , an official in New York City ’ s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene , circulated a letter saying 15 children , ages 2 to 15 , in city hospitals displayed symptoms of PIMS .
Of the 15 , Daskalakis wrote , four tested positive for COVID-19 through polymerase chain reaction testing , meaning they were infected at the time @ @ @ @ @ @ @ children tested positive for antibodies against the coronavirus , indicating they were previously infected .
All 15 children had a fever ; more than half had a rash , abdominal pain , vomiting or diarrhea .
More than half of the children needed blood pressure support , and five required a ventilator , Daskalakis wrote .
At Children ’ s Hospital Los Angeles , doctors are calling back patients diagnosed with Kawasaki disease at the onset of the pandemic to test for antibodies against the coronavirus .
Any parent whose child suffers a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ should seek out a pediatrician , Szmuszkovicz said .
“ Certainly , if they see any of the other signs — the rash , the red tongue , red eyes — we encourage them to seek care , ” she said .

Three patients at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles who displayed symptoms similar to Kawasaki disease, a rare condition that can weaken blood vessels in children, have tested positive for antibodies against the novel coronavirus, indicating a potential link between the little-understood syndrome and the virus, according to a doctor who studies Kawasaki disease.
Recently, doctors in Los Angeles, New York and the United Kingdom have identified a condition called pediatric inflammatory multi-system syndrome, or PIMS, among children who have tested positive for antibodies against the novel coronavirus, Dr. Jacqueline Szmuszkovicz, a pediatric cardiologist at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, said in an interview.
The presence of such antibodies indicates the children were previously infected with COVID-19, the disease caused by the coroanvirus, she said.
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“The fact their antibodies came back positive means this inflammation may be a response to a COVID-19 infection in the past,” Szmuszkovicz said.
She stressed that doctors and researchers around the world are still working to make sense of the finding: “We are learning every day about this new syndrome.”
The symptoms of PIMS are similar to those of Kawasaki disease, a rare condition with about only 5,500 diagnosed cases a year in the United States, Szmuszkovicz said. The symptoms include a high, persistent fever; swollen hands and feet; red, cracked lips; a red tongue; and red eyes.
Left untreated, it can cause aneurysms in the coronary arteries, Szmuszkovicz said.
On Wednesday, New York state’s Department of Health said it had identified 64 suspected cases of PIMS “potentially associated” with COVID-19.
“The majority of patients who have presented with this syndrome have tested positive for SARS-COV-2 or corresponding antibodies,” the department said in an advisory to hospitals and local health departments.
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Two days earlier, Demetre Daskalakis, an official in New York City’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, circulated a letter saying 15 children, ages 2 to 15, in city hospitals displayed symptoms of PIMS.
Of the 15, Daskalakis wrote, four tested positive for COVID-19 through polymerase chain reaction testing, meaning they were infected at the time of the test. An additional six children tested positive for antibodies against the coronavirus, indicating they were previously infected.
All 15 children had a fever; more than half had a rash, abdominal pain, vomiting or diarrhea. More than half of the children needed blood pressure support, and five required a ventilator, Daskalakis wrote.
At Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, doctors are calling back patients diagnosed with Kawasaki disease at the onset of the pandemic to test for antibodies against the coronavirus. Any parent whose child suffers a high fever lasting four days or more should seek out a pediatrician, Szmuszkovicz said.
“Certainly, if they see any of the other signs — the rash, the red tongue, red eyes — we encourage them to seek care,” she said.


latimes--2020-05-08--At protests, mostly white crowds show how pandemic has widened racial and political divisions

The crowds protesting California ’ s stay-at-home orders aimed at stopping the spread of the novel coronavirus have a litany of grievances : Open the beaches .
Free the churches .
End the tyranny of a governor who has gone too far .
They hop barricades to surf .
They cite the Constitution .
They wave American flags .
They sport Trump 2020 gear .
They rail against vaccines .
In other states , including Michigan , protesters have shown up at government buildings carrying rifles .
Despite their varied causes , the protesters have been almost entirely white — @ @ @ @ @ @ @ mostly is not .
The raucous protests in wealthy , coastal Orange and San Diego counties and at the state Capitol in recent days have , for many , highlighted racial and class disparities amid a pandemic that has killed more than 2,500 Californians — a disproportionate number of whom are black , Latino and poor .
In Los Angeles County , where nearly half of the state ’ s more than 61,000 confirmed coronavirus cases are located , public health officials say residents of low-income communities are three times more likely to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ neighborhoods .
A Times data analysis found blacks and Latinos under 50 are dying of coronavirus in significantly greater numbers than other groups , including whites .
Experts believe one reason is that many work in “ essential ” service jobs that require them to leave home , putting them at a higher risk of infection .
The overwhelmingly white makeup of the protests is not lost on people of color , some of whom see it as an overt display of privilege .
This has been especially striking in California , where @ @ @ @ @ @ @ population , outnumbering whites .
“ When Latinos are out protesting immigration or other problems , the first things you hear are white people saying , ‘ Get a job !
’ or ‘ Follow the rules !
’ ” said Alexis Rodriguez , 22 , of East Los Angeles .
“ But when it ’ s white people in Huntington Beach , it ’ s all about ‘ fighting for your rights.
’ ” Rodriguez , a senior at Cal State L.A. , and Ashley Arreola , a 25-year-old senior at UC @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Eastman Avenue Elementary School in East L.A. , handing out laptops to young students who needed them for distance learning .
Arreola noted that most of the families , all Latino , wore masks and gloves — unlike the white demonstrators .
The protesters have had a strong ally in the White House .
President Trump — who has repeatedly called the novel coronavirus the “ Chinese virus , ” even after reports of racist attacks on Asian Americans — has encouraged people to demonstrate , tweeting for protesters to “ liberate ” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ House economic advisor Stephen Moore compared people protesting government lockdowns to a “ modern-day Rosa Parks , ” Trump said he “ could see where he ’ s coming from.
” In Huntington Beach last week , hundreds of demonstrators gathered to demand stay-at-home orders be lifted and to decry Gov .
Gavin Newsom ’ s temporary closure of Orange County beaches , some of which were allowed to reopen this week .
Huntington Beach Councilman Mike Posey said he had “ a hard time believing there ’ s a racial element to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ everyone and the beaches are free ... All I saw in the news is people asking the governor for the beach back and for science and data and not to single out Orange County.
” Polls show conservatives are less supportive of stay-at-home orders .
Those polls also show the protesters are outliers — with the overwhelming majority of Californians strongly supporting the rules .
Audrey Webb , a 22-year-old barista at Harun Coffee in Leimert Park , who is black , said she worried that the protesters , crowded together and unmasked @ @ @ @ @ @ @ service workers , delivery drivers , medical workers , police officers and others on the front lines of the pandemic .
Webb , who wore a mask while she worked , said she worries about her mother , a breast cancer survivor , and her father , a Los Angeles Police Department officer .
“ Pandemics don ’ t pick and choose , ” Webb said .
“ They get everyone .
It doesn ’ t matter if you are in the stock market or if you work stocking a grocery store .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ but people don ’ t want to act like that .
They want to act like , just because they have money , they can say and do as they want.
” Sonia Lewis , a black woman who participated in protests against the fatal shooting of Stephon Clark , an unarmed black man , by Sacramento police in 2018 , said there is “ most definitely a race issue ” in who is protesting the stay-at-home orders .
Lewis , an activist with The Liberation Collective for Black Sacramento , said black @ @ @ @ @ @ @ orders , even though they face the same economic devastation as their white counterparts .
“ I realize that doing business and just existing in my black skin will not give me the ability to defy the law , ” said Lewis , who is a doula and runs an educational consulting company .
“ I can ’ t worry about a beach , ” she added .
“ I am worried about my rent and my mortgage and getting my kids fed.
” White men with guns have become a common sight @ @ @ @ @ @ @ state capitols in Wisconsin and Arizona .
Protesters carrying assault rifles and wearing tactical gear , some of whom were members of militias , converged on the Michigan statehouse last week .
Afterward , Trump tweeted that Democratic Gov .
Gretchen Whitmer should “ make a deal ” with protesters and that they are “ very good people , but they are angry.
” Whitmer said this week that some of the protesters carried nooses and Confederate flags and displayed swastikas .
“ I don ’ t think it ’ s a coincidence @ @ @ @ @ @ @ out there , ” Cassie Miller , a senior research analyst at the Southern Poverty Law Center , said about the demonstrations .
Nationwide , protests have been attended and lauded by white supremacists , members of far-right groups like the Proud Boys , militia members and conspiracy theorists trying to exploit the chaos created by the pandemic , Miller said .
In “ the most extreme parts of the far right , ” people are celebrating the virus because they know that it disproportionately affects minorities , she said .
For Cornell @ @ @ @ @ @ @ University ’ s Kennedy School of Government and former national president of the NAACP , the protests have recalled an adage : When white America gets a cold , black America gets pneumonia .
Brooks said that when his mother was a teenage student at South Carolina State College in the early 1960s , she dressed up in her Sunday best , wearing a new coat , to protest segregation .
She was met by police officers who used fire hoses to push students against the wall .
“ That generation was angry @ @ @ @ @ @ @ treated , but they demonstrated their love for America , ” Brooks said .
Today ’ s protesters , he said , are “ wrapping themselves in the flag and demonstrating a certain contempt for the country and their fellow citizens .
In their civic vocabulary , the pronoun is ‘ I ’ — ‘ I want to be free to do what I want , ’ as opposed to a generation that said , ‘ We want to be free.
’ ” A protest outside the statehouse in Sacramento last week included @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to decry the Black Lives Matter movement and rally support for law enforcement under the credo “ Blue Lives Matter.
” But last week , as California Highway Patrol officers with face shields and full tactical gear began pushing protesters off the Capitol grounds , unmasked protesters , inches from their faces , screamed that they were traitors , urging them to uphold a Constitution they believe is under threat .
“ Is this what you signed up for as police ?
!
” one woman screamed .
As the officers advanced , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ white , sat down in their path with her 4-month old daughter and her mother , Julia Ebel .
Beasley breastfed the infant , defying commands to move .
Police formed a circle around her but kept moving , leaving the small group and their stroller alone until Beasley finished .
Then an officer held out a hand to help Ebel up .
Asked why she had taken a seat , Beasley replied : “ For freedom.
” Leigh Dundas , a human rights attorney from Orange County , stood in a speedboat @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , exhorting protesters to stand up for their constitutional rights .
Last year , she participated in anti-vaccination protests at the statehouse .
She said vaccine requirements and the coronavirus shutdowns are government overreach .
Dundas , who is white , said she understands that the virus hits some populations harder than others but believes the overall threat is less than what officials have stated .
“ The beauty of America is that if you are in a demographic that subjects you to a higher risk , you have the ability to self-regulate @ @ @ @ @ @ @ higher risk and I am not going out into the world , ’ ” she said .
Dundas said that while the majority of protesters gathered last week were white , there was both racial and economic diversity .
Citing the arrests by California Highway Patrol officers of more than 30 protesters , she said the color of their skin “ was not a panacea.
” On Thursday , a group of men wearing Proud Boys T-shirts and carrying a flag with the group ’ s name were among hundreds of protesters who @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Demonstrators said they were angry about last week ’ s arrests .
Some carried signs directed at law enforcement that read : “ We forgive you .
Join the people.
” At 2 Fast 4 U Wireless , a small cellphone store in East Los Angeles , signs this week instructed customers to stay six feet apart and wear masks .
Employee Sandra Castillo , a 25-year-old Latina , said business had plummeted by at least half since the stay-at-home orders went into effect seven weeks ago .
“ I think we @ @ @ @ @ @ @ open up , ” she said .
“ The businesses need it.
” But as for the protesters ?
“ I think they should wear masks and do everything to be safe , ” she said .
At a Huntington Beach protest last week , Victor Valladares , 34 , a community activist from the city ’ s predominantly Latino Oak View neighborhood , wore a long-sleeved shirt , dark sunglasses and covered his nose and mouth with an American flag bandanna to fit in .
He had come to livestream the protest @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and was not surprised to see few Latinos .
“ We ’ d automatically be labeled as instigators , agitators or trying to start a riot instead of trying to exercise our free speech .
They wouldn ’ t even call us patriots , ” Valladares said .
“ Because they ’ re white people , they ’ re patriotic .
”

Hailey Branson-Potts, Anita Chabria, Andrew J. Campa, Priscella Vega

A protester walks into the water in Hermosa Beach following a rally voicing their disagreement with California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s closure of beaches. The residents were joined by about 100 people in chanting to “open the beach,” and then a march to the sand and eventually water, near the Hermosa Beach Pier. (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)
Hundreds of people converge in downtown Los Angeles to demand the reopening of the California economy. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)
A Los Angeles police officer stands outside City Hall on Friday as protesters call on the city and state governments to lift stay-at-home orders. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
A proponent of opening the economy as quickly as possible, right, gets into a verbal altercation with a counterprotester at Los Angeles City Hall. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)
Hundreds of people converge in downtown Los Angeles to call on California Gov. Gavin Newsom to lift stay-at-home orders and reopen the state economy, saying the coronavirus lockdown has hurt workers. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles)
Hundreds of protesters gather at the state Capitol in Sacramento to protest Gov. Gavin Newsom’s stay-at-home order to slow the spread of the coronavirus. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)
California Highway Patrol officers take into custody a woman who refused to follow orders to move off the state Capitol grounds in Sacramento during a protest Friday. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)
More than 1,500 people took part in a protest at the Capitol in Sacramento, seeking a reopening of the California economy. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)
California Highway Patrol officers take into custody a woman who refused to follow orders to move off the Capitol grounds during a protest Friday. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)
Mounted police line up to keep protesters on the sidewalk at the intersection of Main Street and Pacific Coast Highway in Huntington Beach. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
Hundreds of protesters rally at the intersection of Main Street and Pacific Coast Highway in Huntington Beach. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
Motorists join the protesters at the intersection of Main Street and Pacific Coast Highway in Huntington Beach. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
Mounted police line up to keep protesters on the sidewalk at the intersection of Main Street and Pacific Coast Highway in Huntington Beach. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
An aerial view of surfers in the waters off Huntington Beach on Friday. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
Huntington Beach lifeguards patrol with a boat to try to clear surfers out of the water while protesters rallied nearby. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
Gareth Davies of Aliso Viejo waves the U.S. flag in Huntington Beach while protesting Gov. Gavin Newsom’s closure of Orange County beaches. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
A protester holds a U.S. flag outside his car while joining a rally at the intersection of Main Street and Pacific Coast Highway in Huntington Beach calling on Gov. Gavin Newsom to reopen beaches and lift stay-at-home orders. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
Alicia Cruz, center, of Elk Grove, Calif., takes part in a protest at the California State Capitol. She said she was there to protect civil liberties, her children’s future and future livelihoods. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)
Over 1,500 people attended a rally at the capitol in Sacramento, May 1, 2020. asking for the reopening of the economy, closed due to the coronavirus. (Carolyn Cole/Los Angeles Times)
Over 1,500 people attended a rally at the capitol in Sacramento, May 1, 2020. asking for the reopening of the economy, closed due to the coronavirus. (Carolyn Cole/Los Angeles Times)
Over 1,500 people attended a rally at the capitol in Sacramento, May 1, 2020. asking for the reopening of the economy, closed due to the coronavirus. (Carolyn Cole/Los Angeles Times)
The crowds protesting California’s stay-at-home orders aimed at stopping the spread of the novel coronavirus have a litany of grievances: Open the beaches. Free the churches. End the tyranny of a governor who has gone too far.
They hop barricades to surf. They cite the Constitution. They wave American flags. They sport Trump 2020 gear. They rail against vaccines. In other states, including Michigan, protesters have shown up at government buildings carrying rifles.
Despite their varied causes, the protesters have been almost entirely white — even in California, a state that mostly is not.
The raucous protests in wealthy, coastal Orange and San Diego counties and at the state Capitol in recent days have, for many, highlighted racial and class disparities amid a pandemic that has killed more than 2,500 Californians — a disproportionate number of whom are black, Latino and poor.
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In Los Angeles County, where nearly half of the state’s more than 61,000 confirmed coronavirus cases are located, public health officials say residents of low-income communities are three times more likely to die of COVID-19 than those in wealthier neighborhoods. A Times data analysis found blacks and Latinos under 50 are dying of coronavirus in significantly greater numbers than other groups, including whites. Experts believe one reason is that many work in “essential” service jobs that require them to leave home, putting them at a higher risk of infection.
The overwhelmingly white makeup of the protests is not lost on people of color, some of whom see it as an overt display of privilege. This has been especially striking in California, where Latinos make up 40% of the population, outnumbering whites.
“When Latinos are out protesting immigration or other problems, the first things you hear are white people saying, ‘Get a job!’ or ‘Follow the rules!’” said Alexis Rodriguez, 22, of East Los Angeles. “But when it’s white people in Huntington Beach, it’s all about ‘fighting for your rights.’”
Rodriguez, a senior at Cal State L.A., and Ashley Arreola, a 25-year-old senior at UC Irvine, were volunteering this week at Eastman Avenue Elementary School in East L.A., handing out laptops to young students who needed them for distance learning. Arreola noted that most of the families , all Latino, wore masks and gloves — unlike the white demonstrators.
The protesters have had a strong ally in the White House. President Trump — who has repeatedly called the novel coronavirus the “Chinese virus,” even after reports of racist attacks on Asian Americans — has encouraged people to demonstrate, tweeting for protesters to “liberate” states with stay-at-home orders.
After White House economic advisor Stephen Moore compared people protesting government lockdowns to a “modern-day Rosa Parks,” Trump said he “could see where he’s coming from.”
In Huntington Beach last week, hundreds of demonstrators gathered to demand stay-at-home orders be lifted and to decry Gov. Gavin Newsom’s temporary closure of Orange County beaches, some of which were allowed to reopen this week.
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Huntington Beach Councilman Mike Posey said he had “a hard time believing there’s a racial element to protests.”
“Beaches are open to everyone and the beaches are free... All I saw in the news is people asking the governor for the beach back and for science and data and not to single out Orange County.”
Polls show conservatives are less supportive of stay-at-home orders. Those polls also show the protesters are outliers — with the overwhelming majority of Californians strongly supporting the rules.
Audrey Webb, 22, a barista at Harun Coffee in Leimert Park, makes smoothies for customers. Webb thinks the “Reopen California” protesters are selfish and was horrified that some compared themselves to civil rights icon Rosa Parks. (Gabriella Angotti-Jones / Los Angeles Times)
Audrey Webb, a 22-year-old barista at Harun Coffee in Leimert Park, who is black, said she worried that the protesters, crowded together and unmasked, could spread the virus to food service workers, delivery drivers, medical workers, police officers and others on the front lines of the pandemic.
Webb, who wore a mask while she worked, said she worries about her mother, a breast cancer survivor, and her father, a Los Angeles Police Department officer.
“Pandemics don’t pick and choose,” Webb said. “They get everyone. It doesn’t matter if you are in the stock market or if you work stocking a grocery store. The same rules apply to everyone, but people don’t want to act like that. They want to act like, just because they have money, they can say and do as they want.”
Sonia Lewis, a black woman who participated in protests against the fatal shooting of Stephon Clark, an unarmed black man, by Sacramento police in 2018, said there is “most definitely a race issue” in who is protesting the stay-at-home orders.
Lewis, an activist with The Liberation Collective for Black Sacramento, said black business owners are fearful of defying closure orders, even though they face the same economic devastation as their white counterparts.
“I realize that doing business and just existing in my black skin will not give me the ability to defy the law,” said Lewis, who is a doula and runs an educational consulting company.
“I can’t worry about a beach,” she added. “I am worried about my rent and my mortgage and getting my kids fed.”
White men with guns have become a common sight at the protests, including at the state capitols in Wisconsin and Arizona. Protesters carrying assault rifles and wearing tactical gear, some of whom were members of militias, converged on the Michigan statehouse last week. Afterward, Trump tweeted that Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer should “make a deal” with protesters and that they are “very good people, but they are angry.”
Whitmer said this week that some of the protesters carried nooses and Confederate flags and displayed swastikas.
“I don’t think it’s a coincidence that it’s mostly white people out there,” Cassie Miller, a senior research analyst at the Southern Poverty Law Center, said about the demonstrations.
Nationwide, protests have been attended and lauded by white supremacists, members of far-right groups like the Proud Boys, militia members and conspiracy theorists trying to exploit the chaos created by the pandemic, Miller said. In “the most extreme parts of the far right,” people are celebrating the virus because they know that it disproportionately affects minorities, she said.
For Cornell William Brooks, a professor at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government and former national president of the NAACP, the protests have recalled an adage: When white America gets a cold, black America gets pneumonia.
Brooks said that when his mother was a teenage student at South Carolina State College in the early 1960s, she dressed up in her Sunday best, wearing a new coat, to protest segregation. She was met by police officers who used fire hoses to push students against the wall.
“That generation was angry about the un-American way they were being treated, but they demonstrated their love for America,” Brooks said. Today’s protesters, he said, are “wrapping themselves in the flag and demonstrating a certain contempt for the country and their fellow citizens. In their civic vocabulary, the pronoun is ‘I’ — ‘I want to be free to do what I want,’ as opposed to a generation that said, ‘We want to be free.’”
A protest outside the statehouse in Sacramento last week included some people who had previously gathered there to decry the Black Lives Matter movement and rally support for law enforcement under the credo “Blue Lives Matter.”
But last week, as California Highway Patrol officers with face shields and full tactical gear began pushing protesters off the Capitol grounds, unmasked protesters, inches from their faces, screamed that they were traitors, urging them to uphold a Constitution they believe is under threat.
Leigh Dundas stands in a speedboat outside the California state Capitol to protest the closure of beaches because of the coronavirus. (Anita Chabria / Los Angeles Times)
“Is this what you signed up for as police?!” one woman screamed.
As the officers advanced, Auburn resident Amber Beasley, who is white, sat down in their path with her 4-month old daughter and her mother, Julia Ebel. Beasley breastfed the infant, defying commands to move. Police formed a circle around her but kept moving, leaving the small group and their stroller alone until Beasley finished. Then an officer held out a hand to help Ebel up.
Asked why she had taken a seat, Beasley replied: “For freedom.”
Leigh Dundas, a human rights attorney from Orange County, stood in a speedboat parked at the Capitol’s curb, exhorting protesters to stand up for their constitutional rights. Last year, she participated in anti-vaccination protests at the statehouse. She said vaccine requirements and the coronavirus shutdowns are government overreach.
Dundas, who is white, said she understands that the virus hits some populations harder than others but believes the overall threat is less than what officials have stated.
“The beauty of America is that if you are in a demographic that subjects you to a higher risk, you have the ability to self-regulate and say, ‘I am at higher risk and I am not going out into the world,’” she said.
Dundas said that while the majority of protesters gathered last week were white, there was both racial and economic diversity. Citing the arrests by California Highway Patrol officers of more than 30 protesters, she said the color of their skin “was not a panacea.”
On Thursday, a group of men wearing Proud Boys T-shirts and carrying a flag with the group’s name were among hundreds of protesters who once again gathered at the state Capitol. Demonstrators said they were angry about last week’s arrests. Some carried signs directed at law enforcement that read: “We forgive you. Join the people.”
At 2 Fast 4 U Wireless, a small cellphone store in East Los Angeles, signs this week instructed customers to stay six feet apart and wear masks. Employee Sandra Castillo, a 25-year-old Latina, said business had plummeted by at least half since the stay-at-home orders went into effect seven weeks ago.
“I think we’re getting close to needing to open up,” she said. “The businesses need it.”
But as for the protesters? “I think they should wear masks and do everything to be safe,” she said.
At a Huntington Beach protest last week, Victor Valladares, 34, a community activist from the city’s predominantly Latino Oak View neighborhood, wore a long-sleeved shirt, dark sunglasses and covered his nose and mouth with an American flag bandanna to fit in. He had come to livestream the protest for the grass-roots group Oak View ComUNIDAD and was not surprised to see few Latinos.
“We’d automatically be labeled as instigators, agitators or trying to start a riot instead of trying to exercise our free speech. They wouldn’t even call us patriots,” Valladares said. “Because they’re white people, they’re patriotic.”


latimes--2020-05-08--An Orange County cafe opened in defiance of Newsom. Now it's the center of stay-at-home resistance

When Jeff Gourley welcomed diners into his San Clemente restaurant , Nomads Canteen , last week for the first time since mid-March , the response was so overwhelming that he quickly ran out of food — and had to close again .
Gourley made attempts to socially distance customers by spreading out tables inside and having patrons wait on the restaurant ’ s sunny deck .
But the eatery quickly filled with customers eager to get out of the house and return to some sense of normalcy amid the COVID-19 pandemic .
“ We ran out of everything , down @ @ @ @ @ @ @ told the Orange County Register this week .
“ It was record-breaking .
We sold every tortilla , bottle , can and every margarita.
” On Thursday , preparations were once again underway to reopen Nomads Canteen , with limited hours through Sunday .
Gourley did not respond to a phone call and email requesting comment Thursday , but the restaurant has been outspoken about the reopening on social media .
“ Time to get back to work USA !
” the restaurant wrote on Facebook on Wednesday .
“ FYI we will @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as our phone lines and machine are constantly tied up with supporters and haters — so far the score is 307 haters to 290 supporters , but that counts a few crazy haters calling in over 20 times ... LOL.
” Nomads Canteen is one of several restaurants across California that ’ s reopened in recent days , despite ongoing orders from Gov .
Gavin Newsom that they offer only to-go service and that other businesses that have been deemed nonessential remain closed .
Dine-in restaurants , along with bars , nightclubs , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ shut down March 19 , when Newsom aimed at slowing the spread of the novel coronavirus by dramatically restricting public movement .
California was first to impose a statewide stay-at-home order , which experts have credited with helping the state see a fraction of the deaths of other coronavirus hot spots , such as New York .
Recent polls show there is still widespread support for the stay-at-home order in California .
Two weeks ago , 75 % of people surveyed by the California Health Care Foundation wanted the order to continue as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Still , the virus has affected the Golden State unevenly .
Densely populated Los Angeles County is home to more than half the deaths reported in California and nearly half the cases , while some rural and suburban areas are seeing much lower numbers .
Orange County , which is home to more than 3 million people , reported 96 new cases of COVID-19 on Thursday , bringing the county ’ s total number of cases to 3,092 .
The county has seen 66 virus-related deaths since the pandemic began .
These numbers @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and some Orange County residents and local officials , who say their lower case count and death toll means they should be permitted to jump-start their economy sooner .
“ The science is clearer now , ” Orange County Supervisor Don Wagner said Thursday .
“ We know we have problems in nursing homes .
Let ’ s focus our efforts there .
We seem to have problems in our jails and confined living spaces .
Let ’ s deal with that and let the rest of us live our lives as best @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with this effort , the Orange County Board of Supervisors approved a set of guidelines last month that detailed specific measures — including physical distancing , personal protective equipment and sanitation procedures — businesses must take to reopen .
Some took the measures to mean that businesses could open their doors immediately as long as they followed the county ’ s procedures .
But the guidelines state they do not supersede any more restrictive orders implemented by cities or the state , which has not allowed restaurants to reopen .
Enforcement has proven @ @ @ @ @ @ @ businesses and local authorities to navigate .
Orange County sheriff ’ s deputies visited Nomads Canteen with officials from the Orange County Health Care Agency last week upon hearing about the restaurant reopening .
Officials spoke with the owner , who understood that he was operating in violation of the governor ’ s order , according to county officials .
The agency planned to issue a written warning , which could have eventually led to permit suspension .
But Wagner and fellow Supervisor Michelle Steel pushed back on the enforcement effort , issuing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ agency would be “ promptly rescinding all threats ” and would not take enforcement action as long as the restaurant was complying with Orange County ’ s business guidelines .
Wagner acknowledged in an interview Thursday that the state ’ s rules restricting businesses reopening trumps the county ’ s guidelines .
While the county will not enforce the state ’ s order , he said , there is nothing preventing the state from taking enforcement action against local businesses .
“ This doesn ’ t give anywhere near as much help to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ but we are stuck under Sacramento ’ s rules , ” Wagner said .
“ I ’ m absolutely worried that this patchwork of rules is going to hurt some people and be counterproductive .
I must admit there is the potential with conflicting state , city and county rules that people will be unsure what to do.
” County CEO Frank Kim said county restaurant inspectors are required to follow state orders , but their goal is to seek voluntary compliance through education rather than strict enforcement .
The state has made @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for the uprising .
The California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control has visited multiple locations in 42 counties , including Orange , this week and warned restaurants that they could lose their state license to serve alcohol if they don ’ t close their dining rooms .
The agency is stressing voluntary compliance over enforcement at this point , a tactic that so far has been effective at the businesses they ’ ve visited , said John Carr , a spokesman for the ABC .
It is not clear if the agency has @ @ @ @ @ @ @ reopening of some restaurants comes as the state begins to take its first steps toward loosening the stay-at-home order .
Newsom announced this week that some retail stores — including those that sell books , music , toys , flowers , clothing and sporting goods — can reopen for curbside pickup beginning Friday .
It is unclear how soon rules would change for gyms , bars and in-restaurant dining .
“ We are entering into the next phase this week , ” Newsom said .
“ This is a very positive sign and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ reason : The data says it can happen .
”

Customers defy social distancing and the wearing of masks to stand in line Thursday at the recently opened Nomads Canteen in San Clemente.
When Jeff Gourley welcomed diners into his San Clemente restaurant, Nomads Canteen, last week for the first time since mid-March, the response was so overwhelming that he quickly ran out of food — and had to close again.
Gourley made attempts to socially distance customers by spreading out tables inside and having patrons wait on the restaurant’s sunny deck. But the eatery quickly filled with customers eager to get out of the house and return to some sense of normalcy amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We ran out of everything, down to the bare walls,” Gourley told the Orange County Register this week. “It was record-breaking. We sold every tortilla, bottle, can and every margarita.”
On Thursday, preparations were once again underway to reopen Nomads Canteen, with limited hours through Sunday. Gourley did not respond to a phone call and email requesting comment Thursday, but the restaurant has been outspoken about the reopening on social media.
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“Time to get back to work USA!” the restaurant wrote on Facebook on Wednesday. “FYI we will not be taking call-in orders this weekend as our phone lines and machine are constantly tied up with supporters and haters — so far the score is 307 haters to 290 supporters, but that counts a few crazy haters calling in over 20 times ... LOL.”
Nomads Canteen is one of several restaurants across California that’s reopened in recent days, despite ongoing orders from Gov. Gavin Newsom that they offer only to-go service and that other businesses that have been deemed nonessential remain closed.
Customers and a waitress ignore social distancing and the wearing of masks on the patio at the recently opened Nomads Canteen. (Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times)
Dine-in restaurants, along with bars, nightclubs, gyms and theaters, were told to shut down March 19, when Newsom issued a sweeping order aimed at slowing the spread of the novel coronavirus by dramatically restricting public movement.
California was first to impose a statewide stay-at-home order, which experts have credited with helping the state see a fraction of the deaths of other coronavirus hot spots, such as New York.
Recent polls show there is still widespread support for the stay-at-home order in California. Two weeks ago, 75% of people surveyed by the California Health Care Foundation wanted the order to continue as long as it’s needed.
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Still, the virus has affected the Golden State unevenly. Densely populated Los Angeles County is home to more than half the deaths reported in California and nearly half the cases, while some rural and suburban areas are seeing much lower numbers.
Orange County, which is home to more than 3 million people, reported 96 new cases of COVID-19 on Thursday, bringing the county’s total number of cases to 3,092. The county has seen 66 virus-related deaths since the pandemic began.
These numbers have led to tension between the state and some Orange County residents and local officials, who say their lower case count and death toll means they should be permitted to jump-start their economy sooner.
“The science is clearer now,” Orange County Supervisor Don Wagner said Thursday. “We know we have problems in nursing homes. Let’s focus our efforts there. We seem to have problems in our jails and confined living spaces. Let’s deal with that and let the rest of us live our lives as best as we possibly can.”
In line with this effort, the Orange County Board of Supervisors approved a set of guidelines last month that detailed specific measures — including physical distancing, personal protective equipment and sanitation procedures — businesses must take to reopen.
Some took the measures to mean that businesses could open their doors immediately as long as they followed the county’s procedures. But the guidelines state they do not supersede any more restrictive orders implemented by cities or the state, which has not allowed restaurants to reopen.
Enforcement has proven to be an even trickier topic for businesses and local authorities to navigate.
Orange County sheriff’s deputies visited Nomads Canteen with officials from the Orange County Health Care Agency last week upon hearing about the restaurant reopening. Officials spoke with the owner, who understood that he was operating in violation of the governor’s order, according to county officials. The agency planned to issue a written warning, which could have eventually led to permit suspension.
But Wagner and fellow Supervisor Michelle Steel pushed back on the enforcement effort, issuing a statement this week that noted the agency would be “promptly rescinding all threats” and would not take enforcement action as long as the restaurant was complying with Orange County’s business guidelines.
Wagner acknowledged in an interview Thursday that the state’s rules restricting businesses reopening trumps the county’s guidelines. While the county will not enforce the state’s order, he said, there is nothing preventing the state from taking enforcement action against local businesses.
“This doesn’t give anywhere near as much help to our businesses as I might like, but we are stuck under Sacramento’s rules,” Wagner said. “I’m absolutely worried that this patchwork of rules is going to hurt some people and be counterproductive. I must admit there is the potential with conflicting state, city and county rules that people will be unsure what to do.”
County CEO Frank Kim said county restaurant inspectors are required to follow state orders, but their goal is to seek voluntary compliance through education rather than strict enforcement.
The state has made it clear it won’t stand for the uprising.
The California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control has visited multiple locations in 42 counties, including Orange, this week and warned restaurants that they could lose their state license to serve alcohol if they don’t close their dining rooms.
The agency is stressing voluntary compliance over enforcement at this point, a tactic that so far has been effective at the businesses they’ve visited, said John Carr, a spokesman for the ABC.
It is not clear if the agency has reached out to Nomads Canteen.
The reopening of some restaurants comes as the state begins to take its first steps toward loosening the stay-at-home order. Newsom announced this week that some retail stores — including those that sell books, music, toys, flowers, clothing and sporting goods — can reopen for curbside pickup beginning Friday.
It is unclear how soon rules would change for gyms, bars and in-restaurant dining.
“We are entering into the next phase this week,” Newsom said. “This is a very positive sign and it’s happened only for one reason: The data says it can happen.”


latimes--2020-05-08--Fears of a second coronavirus surge haunt California as it begins slow-speed reopening of economy

Reopening California ’ s devastated economy is increasingly looking to be a slow , deliberative process in many parts of the state as Gov .
Gavin Newsom issued strict protocols that communities must satisfy to speed reopening and health experts warned of the risks of a surge if social distancing is abandoned too early .
California will take baby steps in the process on Friday , as a scattering of retail businesses are allowed to reopen for curbside pickup .
But that will still leave huge sectors of the economy shut down , and leaders in communities across California will @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the coronavirus danger to open up more businesses , such as restaurant dining rooms and shopping malls .
That is going to be a challenge in hard-hit areas such as Los Angeles County , which has seen more than 1,400 deaths — more than half of the state ’ s total — and is still recording hundreds of new cases a day .
A Times data analysis found that Los Angeles and many other urban counties have not yet hit Newsom ’ s criteria to further open businesses , and it ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s likely some rural counties that have been hit much less hard by coronavirus than the Bay Area and Southern California will be able to reopen at a faster rate .
With more than 2,500 deaths , California avoided the huge death toll faced by hot spots such as New York , which has recorded more than 25,000 fatalities .
But health experts said the Golden State is still highly vulnerable to new outbreaks .
While New York and New Jersey are seeing new cases drop , California is still seeing new weekly @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , with roughly 11,000 new cases and 500 new deaths in each of the last three weeks .
Hospitalizations have declined noticeably in Northern California , but they have remained steady in Southern California .
Experts nationally have also started to realize that people are increasingly fed up with staying at home and are increasingly going out .
Some states are also lifting stay-at-home orders .
Those are reasons why the University of Washington ’ s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation is now estimating a national death toll of more than 134,000 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 78 % increase from the death toll as of Thursday , which was more than 75,000 .
“ We ’ re going to level off , then we ’ re going to go up some more , ” Dr. George Rutherford , a nationally renowned UC San Francisco epidemiologist and infectious disease expert , said Thursday at a campus online panel .
“ This is a consequence of behavior.
” Crowds have already been seen in California , where health experts and elected officials were appalled by people flocking to San Francisco ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Orange County ’ s beaches two weekends ago .
In the last seven-day-period that ended Wednesday , the number of coronavirus cases in Orange County rose by 50 % .
Between April 23 to 29 , Orange County reported 499 coronavirus cases , and last week , it reported 752 .
“ We have to be really , really careful about doing this .
Obviously , you have to trade it off against the economy , ” Rutherford said .
“ If we have a prolonged depression , that has tremendous costs in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it ’ s a trade-off : Just understand that we ’ re trading economy for lives.
” Yuba and Sutter counties got a taste of it this week .
The Northern California counties north of Sacramento defied Newsom and allowed some businesses to open with social distancing and other safety rules .
But the local public health officer , Dr. Phuong Luu , on Wednesday expressed alarm that face coverings were not being worn inside reopened businesses and efforts were not being made to keep people at least six feet apart as much @ @ @ @ @ @ @ could get sick if the behavior continued .
Under Newsom ’ s plan , in-restaurant dining , shopping malls and some office buildings could also be allowed to reopen in the weeks ahead if public health officials in a county are able to demonstrate that the spread of the coronavirus has stabilized there .
County officials must also attest to the state that they have adequate testing and hospital capacity and the ability to isolate people with the virus , and trace who they have contacted with a staff of disease detectives .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ , music stores , toy stores , florists , sporting goods retailers , clothing stores and others can reopen for curbside pickup as early as Friday , unless barred by tougher local restrictions .
Manufacturers and suppliers that provide goods for those businesses also will be allowed to resume operating .
The state is recommending that retailers continue to encourage physical distancing and implement “ hands-free ” ways for customers to pay .
Manufacturers should close indoor break areas , and warehouses should carry sanitation materials during deliveries and provide employees with personal @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , the state ’ s secretary of Health and Human Services .
“ We ’ re moving forward but we ’ re doing it , always , with an eye being led by the data , by the science , by public health , ” Newsom said during his daily COVID-19 briefing in Sacramento .
Ghaly said on Thursday that counties that want to move ahead of the state ’ s restrictions to open venues such as restaurant dining rooms and shopping malls can not have more than one COVID-19 case per 10,000 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ two weeks .
Counties also must have disinfectant supplies and protective gear for essential workers and be performing at least 1.5 tests per 1,000 residents .
In addition , Ghaly said counties will need to have 15 contact tracers per 100,000 residents and the ability to house at least 15 % of their homeless population .
Newsom ’ s reopening plan does not currently permit counties to reopen higher-risk venues identified in future phases , known as Stages 3 and 4 .
They include personal grooming businesses , churches , entertainment venues , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the first community spread of the coronavirus in California happened in a nail salon .
The order to stay home unless venturing out to grocery stores , hospitals , vet appointments and other necessary trips also remains in effect .
John Kabateck , the California director of the National Federation of Independent Business , praised Newsom ’ s reliance on recommendations from his public health advisors to drive his plans to reopen the economy in the safest way possible .
The financial costs of the statewide restrictions , however , also come with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ business owners and can not be dismissed , he said .
Small business owners have been critical of Newsom ’ s plan , noting that big-box stores such as Walmart , Target and Costco are allowed to serve customers inside their stores while some mom-and-pop stores must stay closed or offer only curbside pickup .
“ Restaurants are crumbling .
Retail stores are devastated .
And the people who work there are struggling to feed their families and make ends meet , ” said Kabateck , whose organization represents 15,000 small businesses in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that all small businesses can have a system and structure to turn their lights on very , very soon.
” Kabateck urged Newsom and state lawmakers to avoid burdening small business owners with new laws and workplace requirements that impede their ability to reopen .
For instance , the expanded workers ’ compensation rights Newsom announced on Wednesday probably will drive up costs on small businesses that already are struggling to survive .
Regardless of Newsom ’ s announcement on Thursday , leaders in Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ approach to reopening because the coronavirus remains a significant public health threat in those metropolitan areas .
“ The numbers are still going up , ” San Francisco Mayor London Breed said .
“ The number of deaths are still going up , and we have not lowered the curve , and we have to be mindful of that.
” Los Angeles County remains the primary COVID-19 hot spot in California , with more than 1,400 deaths and more than 29,000 confirmed cases , including more than 800 new cases reported on Wednesday @ @ @ @ @ @ @ been less hard hit , however , local officials have pleaded to Newsom to allow them to accelerate efforts to lift the stay-at-home restrictions .
In San Luis Obispo County , for instance , a bipartisan group of mayors and other political representatives asked Newsom in a letter to allow the county to begin a “ science-based , thoughtfully phased reopening of our economy.
” Times staff writers Willon and Luna reported from Sacramento , and Lin from San Francisco .
Times staff writers Sean Greene , Luke Money and Priscilla Vega contributed @ @ @ @

Phil Willon, Rong-Gong Lin II, Taryn Luna

Shopper Enid Koffler, left, talks to owner Holly Boies on Thursday at Salt, a women’s clothing store in Venice. Boies is planning to reopen her store on Friday for curbside pickup.
Reopening California’s devastated economy is increasingly looking to be a slow, deliberative process in many parts of the state as Gov. Gavin Newsom issued strict protocols that communities must satisfy to speed reopening and health experts warned of the risks of a surge if social distancing is abandoned too early.
California will take baby steps in the process on Friday, as a scattering of retail businesses are allowed to reopen for curbside pickup.
But that will still leave huge sectors of the economy shut down, and leaders in communities across California will have to declare they’ve reduced the coronavirus danger to open up more businesses, such as restaurant dining rooms and shopping malls. That is going to be a challenge in hard-hit areas such as Los Angeles County, which has seen more than 1,400 deaths — more than half of the state’s total — and is still recording hundreds of new cases a day.
A Times data analysis found that Los Angeles and many other urban counties have not yet hit Newsom’s criteria to further open businesses, and it’s unclear when they will. It’s likely some rural counties that have been hit much less hard by coronavirus than the Bay Area and Southern California will be able to reopen at a faster rate.
With more than 2,500 deaths, California avoided the huge death toll faced by hot spots such as New York, which has recorded more than 25,000 fatalities. But health experts said the Golden State is still highly vulnerable to new outbreaks.
While New York and New Jersey are seeing new cases drop, California is still seeing new weekly cases and deaths persist at a plateau, with roughly 11,000 new cases and 500 new deaths in each of the last three weeks.
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Hospitalizations have declined noticeably in Northern California, but they have remained steady in Southern California. Experts nationally have also started to realize that people are increasingly fed up with staying at home and are increasingly going out. Some states are also lifting stay-at-home orders. Those are reasons why the University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation is now estimating a national death toll of more than 134,000 by the beginning of August, a 78% increase from the death toll as of Thursday, which was more than 75,000.
“We’re going to level off, then we’re going to go up some more,” Dr. George Rutherford, a nationally renowned UC San Francisco epidemiologist and infectious disease expert, said Thursday at a campus online panel. “This is a consequence of behavior.”
Crowds have already been seen in California, where health experts and elected officials were appalled by people flocking to San Francisco’s Mission Dolores Park last weekend and Orange County’s beaches two weekends ago. In the last seven-day-period that ended Wednesday, the number of coronavirus cases in Orange County rose by 50%. Between April 23 to 29, Orange County reported 499 coronavirus cases, and last week, it reported 752.
“We have to be really, really careful about doing this. Obviously, you have to trade it off against the economy,” Rutherford said. “If we have a prolonged depression, that has tremendous costs in morbidity and mortality as well. So it’s a trade-off: Just understand that we’re trading economy for lives.”
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Yuba and Sutter counties got a taste of it this week. The Northern California counties north of Sacramento defied Newsom and allowed some businesses to open with social distancing and other safety rules. But the local public health officer, Dr. Phuong Luu, on Wednesday expressed alarm that face coverings were not being worn inside reopened businesses and efforts were not being made to keep people at least six feet apart as much as possible. She said more people could get sick if the behavior continued.
Under Newsom’s plan, in-restaurant dining, shopping malls and some office buildings could also be allowed to reopen in the weeks ahead if public health officials in a county are able to demonstrate that the spread of the coronavirus has stabilized there.
1 / 20 Christina Dagle and her daughter Eleanor Eades, 4, buy flowers from Devynn’s Garden in Seal Beach. Some businesses began reopening Friday under a relaxation of the state’s stay-at-home order. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times) 2 / 20 Manager Ruben Cortez with online orders ready to be picked up at Lovell’s Records in Whittier. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times) 3 / 20 Davon Artis, owner of Cool Kicks, sits with a bottle of hand sanitizer as he awaits customers Friday at his sports shoe and apparel store on Melrose Avenue. Artis said he had only a few curbside customers. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times) 4 / 20 Jessica Knudsen, a sales associate at Cookies, a street wear clothing store on Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles, gives change and a backpack purchase to customer Jason Green of Tampa, Fla. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times) 5 / 20 Kim Wicker, owner of Monte’s Camera in Whittier, continued to keep his shop closed Friday. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times) 6 / 20 A security guard gets some exercise while keeping watch at the still-closed Apple Store on the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica on Friday. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times) 7 / 20 Katrina Woerner at her family business, Pour Le Bain in Whittier, which reopened Friday for online order pickup. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times) 8 / 20 Ben, Julia, Luke and Ethan Brenier, from left, help ready their family store, the Wishing Well, for reopening in Whittier. (Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times) 9 / 20 Shopper Enid Koffler, left, talks with clothing store owner Holly Boies at her shop on Abbot Kinney Boulevard in Venice. Boies is planning to open her store Friday for curbside pickup.
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times) 10 / 20 Ethan Brenier helps his mother prepare to reopen their family store in Whittier.
(Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times) 11 / 20 Rebecca Barnes prepares bouquets at a florist in Long Beach, set to open two days before Mother’s Day.
(Luis Sinco / Los Angelels Times) 12 / 20 Customers in San Clemente, without wearing masks or abiding by social distancing guidelines, stand in line at a newly reopened restaurant.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times) 13 / 20 Linda McLoughlin Figel, owner of Pages a Bookstore in Manhattan Beach, left, helps customer Michael Leo. (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times) 14 / 20 A mural decorates a closed business in Long Beach. (Luis Sinco/Los Angeles Times) 15 / 20 A closed thrift shop on Main Street in Santa Monica. Some retail businesses will reopen for curbside pickup Friday.
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times) 16 / 20 Kay Kabir, 71, walks down a deserted Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times) 17 / 20 Debra Consani prepares the Growing Wild florist for reopening in Manhattan Beach.
(Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times) 18 / 20 Jay Demircift, co-owner of Puzzle Zoo, prepares his shop in Santa Monica, which will be reopening at a later date. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times) 19 / 20 A message board tracks the struggles of a shop owner on Main Street in Santa Monica.
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times) 20 / 20 Alice Lefae cleans up a Long Beach shop’s exterior in preparation for Friday’s reopening.
(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)
County officials must also attest to the state that they have adequate testing and hospital capacity and the ability to isolate people with the virus, and trace who they have contacted with a staff of disease detectives.
Newsom said earlier this week that bookstores, music stores, toy stores, florists, sporting goods retailers, clothing stores and others can reopen for curbside pickup as early as Friday, unless barred by tougher local restrictions. Manufacturers and suppliers that provide goods for those businesses also will be allowed to resume operating.
The state is recommending that retailers continue to encourage physical distancing and implement “hands-free” ways for customers to pay. Manufacturers should close indoor break areas, and warehouses should carry sanitation materials during deliveries and provide employees with personal protective gear, said Dr. Mark Ghaly, the state’s secretary of Health and Human Services.
“We’re moving forward but we’re doing it, always, with an eye being led by the data, by the science, by public health,” Newsom said during his daily COVID-19 briefing in Sacramento.
Ghaly said on Thursday that counties that want to move ahead of the state’s restrictions to open venues such as restaurant dining rooms and shopping malls cannot have more than one COVID-19 case per 10,000 residents and one death in the last two weeks. Counties also must have disinfectant supplies and protective gear for essential workers and be performing at least 1.5 tests per 1,000 residents. In addition, Ghaly said counties will need to have 15 contact tracers per 100,000 residents and the ability to house at least 15% of their homeless population.
Newsom’s reopening plan does not currently permit counties to reopen higher-risk venues identified in future phases, known as Stages 3 and 4. They include personal grooming businesses, churches, entertainment venues, live concerts and sports. Newsom said the first community spread of the coronavirus in California happened in a nail salon.
The order to stay home unless venturing out to grocery stores, hospitals, vet appointments and other necessary trips also remains in effect.
John Kabateck, the California director of the National Federation of Independent Business, praised Newsom’s reliance on recommendations from his public health advisors to drive his plans to reopen the economy in the safest way possible.
The financial costs of the statewide restrictions, however, also come with devastating consequences to workers, families and business owners and cannot be dismissed, he said. Small business owners have been critical of Newsom’s plan, noting that big-box stores such as Walmart, Target and Costco are allowed to serve customers inside their stores while some mom-and-pop stores must stay closed or offer only curbside pickup.
“Restaurants are crumbling. Retail stores are devastated. And the people who work there are struggling to feed their families and make ends meet,” said Kabateck, whose organization represents 15,000 small businesses in California. “They hope and pray that all small businesses can have a system and structure to turn their lights on very, very soon.”
Kabateck urged Newsom and state lawmakers to avoid burdening small business owners with new laws and workplace requirements that impede their ability to reopen. For instance, the expanded workers’ compensation rights Newsom announced on Wednesday probably will drive up costs on small businesses that already are struggling to survive.
Regardless of Newsom’s announcement on Thursday, leaders in Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area have said they plan to take a cautious approach to reopening because the coronavirus remains a significant public health threat in those metropolitan areas.
“The numbers are still going up,” San Francisco Mayor London Breed said. “The number of deaths are still going up, and we have not lowered the curve, and we have to be mindful of that.”
Los Angeles County remains the primary COVID-19 hot spot in California, with more than 1,400 deaths and more than 29,000 confirmed cases, including more than 800 new cases reported on Wednesday alone.
In some areas that have been less hard hit, however, local officials have pleaded to Newsom to allow them to accelerate efforts to lift the stay-at-home restrictions. In San Luis Obispo County, for instance, a bipartisan group of mayors and other political representatives asked Newsom in a letter to allow the county to begin a “science-based, thoughtfully phased reopening of our economy.”
Times staff writers Willon and Luna reported from Sacramento, and Lin from San Francisco. Times staff writers Sean Greene, Luke Money and Priscilla Vega contributed to this report.


latimes--2020-05-09--Riverside County officials vote to rescind all local coronavirus public health orders

After nearly seven hours of debate , Riverside County officials voted unanimously late Friday to rescind all of the county ’ s stay-at-home orders that go beyond the governor ’ s restrictions .
The Board of Supervisors voted to lift the closure of vocational and higher-education schools , end the restriction on golf courses , eliminate limitations on short-term lodging , and remove the requirements to wear face coverings and engage in social distancing .
Cameron Kaiser , the county ’ s public health officer , had put the restrictions in place until June 19 .
Kaiser and George Johnson @ @ @ @ @ @ @ emergency services , plan to sign the amended school order and the rescission of the remaining three orders on Saturday , according to Brooke Federico , county public information officer .
The original measure called to revoke the closure of all schools , but after receiving advice from superintendents , county officials voted to keep K-12 schools closed .
Last week , Newsom said as early as July .
Officials also voted for the use of face coverings to be “ strongly recommended ” by the county , instead of being mandated as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of masks is only a recommendation on the state level .
During the meeting , 5th District Supervisor Jeff Hewitt said that he didn ’ t feel he needed to wear a mask , citing conflicting evidence of its benefits , but that he would continue to do so if certain businesses require it .
“ That ’ s my personal choice , ” he said .
“ I think that people are smart enough to make [ that ] decision themselves.
” A 78-year-old man , who spoke in support of rescission @ @ @ @ @ @ @ wears a mask only when he ’ s around people who are afraid .
“ I ’ m not afraid ... .
People get old and they die.
” The supervisors met Tuesday intending to make a decision — during an — but postponed their vote until Friday .
They had hoped to have more clarity to make their decision following the governor ’ s address on new guidelines for reopening the state .
But many of them were left disappointed .
Although Newsom announced the reopening of some retailers , manufacturers and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for counties to move further into the second phase of reopenings , they would need to meet new criteria .
Those include for a county to not have more than one COVID case per 10,000 people , or any COVID-19 death , in 14 days .
Like his colleagues , 4th District Supervisor V. Manuel Perez , the board chair , called the guidelines unattainable and impossible for Riverside County and any other urban counties with large populations .
“ I think that all of us were taken aback and honestly disappointed when @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , ” Perez said .
“ We thought there would be some good news that could help us ” make a decision , Perez said .
Hewitt said that he questioned Newsom ’ s leadership and that he wanted to remove all of his restrictions .
A crowd of protesters , who demanded the rescission of all the restrictions , cheered their support .
When 1st District Supervisor Kevin Jeffries said the county didn ’ t have the power to revoke Newsom ’ s orders , Hewitt countered : “ The funny part @ @ @ @ @ @ @ so his power is powerless if you don ’ t enforce it.
” Sheriff Chad Bianco had said Tuesday that he would not be enforcing any of the county ’ s restrictions , which he believed to be unreasonable .
During public comment on both days , many protesters voiced their support of him .
Local health experts weren ’ t given time to speak during Friday ’ s board meeting , but Vice Chair and 2nd District Supervisor Karen Spiegel said that she ’ d spoken to Kaiser about potentially amending the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ said his position hadn ’ t changed , and he credited the county ’ s lower-than-expected COVID-19 cases and deaths to the strict orders .
He was not available for comment Friday night , and it was not clear if his position had changed , though he apparently plans to sign the recission orders .
Throughout the meeting , many protesters demanded that the supervisors “ reopen the economy ” and businesses , but Perez reiterated that the county still has to follow the governor ’ s guidelines .
Many supervisors expressed interest @ @ @ @ @ @ @ form a coalition to approach Newsom about easing restrictions .
“ We will have more power in numbers , ” 3rd District Supervisor Chuck Washington said .
With 4,817 COVID-19 cases , Riverside County has the second highest number in the state .
A total of 204 people have died from the disease , an increase of 20 since Tuesday .
More than 66,000 people have been tested thus far , and nearly 2,500 have recovered .

Residents who want public health orders rescinded crowd together in the lobby to watch video monitors of an emergency Riverside County Board of Supervisors meeting Friday at the County Administrative Center.
After nearly seven hours of debate, Riverside County officials voted unanimously late Friday to rescind all of the county’s stay-at-home orders that go beyond the governor’s restrictions.
The Board of Supervisors voted to lift the closure of vocational and higher-education schools, end the restriction on golf courses, eliminate limitations on short-term lodging, and remove the requirements to wear face coverings and engage in social distancing.
Cameron Kaiser, the county’s public health officer, had put the restrictions in place until June 19.
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Kaiser and George Johnson, the county’s director of emergency services, plan to sign the amended school order and the rescission of the remaining three orders on Saturday, according to Brooke Federico, county public information officer.
The original measure called to revoke the closure of all schools, but after receiving advice from superintendents, county officials voted to keep K-12 schools closed. Last week, Newsom said public schools might reopen as early as July.
Officials also voted for the use of face coverings to be “strongly recommended” by the county, instead of being mandated as Kaiser implemented last month. The use of masks is only a recommendation on the state level.
Residents attend an emergency meeting of the Riverside County Board of Supervisors at the County Administrative Center in Riverside. Printed notices are placed on chairs to keep people spaced appropriately. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
During the meeting, 5th District Supervisor Jeff Hewitt said that he didn’t feel he needed to wear a mask, citing conflicting evidence of its benefits, but that he would continue to do so if certain businesses require it.
“That’s my personal choice,” he said. “I think that people are smart enough to make [that] decision themselves.”
A 78-year-old man, who spoke in support of rescission, agreed with Hewitt said that he wears a mask only when he’s around people who are afraid. “I’m not afraid.... People get old and they die.”
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The supervisors met Tuesday intending to make a decision — during an eight-plus-hour meeting — but postponed their vote until Friday. They had hoped to have more clarity to make their decision following the governor’s address on new guidelines for reopening the state.
But many of them were left disappointed. Although Newsom announced the reopening of some retailers, manufacturers and suppliers, he said that in order for counties to move further into the second phase of reopenings, they would need to meet new criteria. Those include for a county to not have more than one COVID case per 10,000 people, or any COVID-19 death, in 14 days.
Jessica Schuurnans writes down comments she will present to the Riverside County Board of Supervisors during its emergency meeting. Friday. “It’s time to open California, “ she said. She also brought along the posters on the left. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
Like his colleagues, 4th District Supervisor V. Manuel Perez, the board chair, called the guidelines unattainable and impossible for Riverside County and any other urban counties with large populations.
“I think that all of us were taken aback and honestly disappointed when we heard the news from our governor,” Perez said. “We thought there would be some good news that could help us” make a decision, Perez said.
Hewitt said that he questioned Newsom’s leadership and that he wanted to remove all of his restrictions. A crowd of protesters, who demanded the rescission of all the restrictions, cheered their support.
When 1st District Supervisor Kevin Jeffries said the county didn’t have the power to revoke Newsom’s orders, Hewitt countered: “The funny part is we do all the enforcement, so his power is powerless if you don’t enforce it.”
Sheriff Chad Bianco had said Tuesday that he would not be enforcing any of the county’s restrictions, which he believed to be unreasonable. During public comment on both days, many protesters voiced their support of him.
Local health experts weren’t given time to speak during Friday’s board meeting, but Vice Chair and 2nd District Supervisor Karen Spiegel said that she’d spoken to Kaiser about potentially amending the mask requirement.
On Tuesday, Kaiser said his position hadn’t changed, and he credited the county’s lower-than-expected COVID-19 cases and deaths to the strict orders. He was not available for comment Friday night, and it was not clear if his position had changed, though he apparently plans to sign the recission orders.
Throughout the meeting, many protesters demanded that the supervisors “reopen the economy” and businesses, but Perez reiterated that the county still has to follow the governor’s guidelines. Many supervisors expressed interest in teaming up with other counties to form a coalition to approach Newsom about easing restrictions.
“We will have more power in numbers,” 3rd District Supervisor Chuck Washington said.
With 4,817 COVID-19 cases, Riverside County has the second highest number in the state. A total of 204 people have died from the disease, an increase of 20 since Tuesday. More than 66,000 people have been tested thus far, and nearly 2,500 have recovered.