At least one thing is clear from the recent coronavirus lockdown plans being put in place in California: Gov. Gavin Newsom has no clue what he is doing, and neither do the state’s Democratic mayors and city councils.
California’s new, strict lockdowns are a mess of unscientific orders and excessive policing of the lives of California’s citizens. Outdoor dining and outdoor playgrounds are banned, despite the fact that there is no data to support those decisions. According to the state’s coronavirus response website, the new order prohibits “private gatherings of any size.” Newsom dodged, when asked about the lack of data or transparency in crafting the order.
Twenty-seven million Californians are now living under that order, as the San Joaquin Valley and Southern California regions have fewer than 15% of their ICU beds available.
But Californians don’t seem to be as accepting of this new lockdown order as they have been in the past. Restaurants and sheriffs are preparing to defy the order. The prohibition on private gatherings also doesn’t seem likely to deter residents much, as the order will carry right through Christmas.
This pushback isn’t surprising. There is no scientific or evidentiary basis for these new rules. And when a hypocrite like Newsom, who flouted his own rules to attend the indoor birthday celebration of a lobbyist, is the one implementing them, Californians can’t be expected just to accept it.
It isn’t just Newsom either. San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo violated his own restrictions to celebrate Thanksgiving with family. Los Angeles County Supervisor Sheila Kuehl ate at a restaurant in Santa Monica just hours after voting to ban outdoor dining as “a most dangerous situation.”
But Newsom was the worst offender, and his smug faux-apology makes the severity of this new lockdown order even tougher to swallow. Newsom now expects 38 million Californians to take seriously health protocols that he himself shrugged off not even a month ago. Christmas with your family is not important. Having dinner with lobbyists at upscale French restaurants is.
So don’t be surprised if Californians decide to buck the new restrictions. Newsom can’t find any basis for them in data, and, even if he could, he and his fellow California Democrats have already decided that the rules don’t apply to them. Newsom has already given residents a reason to ignore him, and these excessive lockdowns are likely to showcase that.
