New Cases and Deaths Make Officials Cautious
My reporting things having to do with the coronavirus may seem like a broken record but be that as of may I continue to express my frustration about the hesitance of our state and county officials to reopen. There was some good news recently in that indoor malls were allowed to reopen starting last Wednesday, with reduced capacity, but other businesses are to remain closed.
Some counties in California have actually gone backward and are further away from reopening because of apparent increases in the number of infections in positive tests for COVID-19.
Ask your average Sun Valley California resident what the criteria are for reopening and he or she will look at you askance. The fact is the average person on the street really doesn’t know much about how government looks at coronavirus infections with regard to reopening period
It maybe helpful to familiarize ourselves with the various tiers California has in place. There’s actually a specific COVID-19 website set up with this information. The tiers, of which there are four, range from yellow through orange red and purple. The bottom or yellow tier means there are minimal cases and positivity for coronavirus, less than one new case per 100,000 of the population. At the top, or the purple tier, there are more than seven new cases per 100,000 and a positivity rate of more than 8%.
Los Angeles County continues to fall in this purple category with more than seven new cases per day per 100,000 of the population. I feel, however, that this reflects an overabundance of caution and at times these numbers seem to me to be almost arbitrary. Compared to the summer months the amount of new cases has dropped substantially and I feel it is time to start reopening more businesses. The economic impact continued closures cannot be withstood much longer. I just have to wonder what the State of California thinks is going to happen to business owners who have to close their doors permanently because they were prevented from doing business.
At least the malls reopening is a good sign, I hope this translates to more businesses reopening in the near future.