The seven Bay Area Public Health Officers who ordered a shelter in place in mid-March will extend the orders through May 31 while some restrictions have been eased.
The following information is from the Contra Costa Health Dept.:
As restrictions are eased, it is critical to ensure that growth of cases can be sufficiently contained to protect the health and safety of our community.
All construction activities, certain businesses that operate primarily outdoors, and some outdoor activities will be allowed to resume with specific conditions.
This initial, measured easing of some restrictions is designed to set the stage for a gradual resumption of activity and prevent rapid, exponential growth of cases that could overwhelm hospitals for a particular jurisdiction or the region as a whole.
“We understand how challenging shelter in place is but we are clearly seeing the benefits,” said Dr. Chris Farnitano, Health Officer of Contra Costa County. “As we ease a small number of restrictions, it’s important to remember that the virus is still in our community. Now is not the time to ease up on maintaining social distancing, wearing a face covering, and staying home whenever possible.”
Under the new orders, all construction projects will be allowed to resume as long as the project complies with safety protocols included with the order. All real estate transactions will also now be able to resume, but with continued restrictions on open houses and limitations on in-person viewings. Any employee allowed to return to work at a facility can also access childcare programs that can operate.
Certain outdoor businesses can also begin operating again, and people can visit those businesses to perform work or obtain goods, services, or supplies. This includes wholesale and retail nurseries, landscapers, gardeners, and other businesses that primarily provide outdoor services as set forth in the order. Outdoor businesses do not include restaurants, cafes or bars, regardless of whether they have outdoor seating.
Other activities that can resume under the new order include residential moves and the use of certain shared outdoor recreational facilities that were previously ordered closed, like skate parks, but not others that involve shared equipment or physical contact.
These orders are generally consistent with the state’s shelter in place order. On any issue where the local and state orders may differ, the stricter order applies.
“A pandemic of this scale is unprecedented,” said Dr. Sara Cody. “We are progressing steadily as a region, but we must reduce restrictions on activity gradually or we will put the lives of many community members at risk.”
Here comes the political debate, Newsome is this, Trump is that, save it!, stay inside so we can all get back to work!!!!
Yes, here it comes. People losing their homes and cars because of NO income (oh yes that $1200 will take care of that), more people in long lines at the Food Banks, mounting anger and frustration in the homes (you know that silly thing called spousal and child abuse). Yes, just stay at home! It’s okay!
ZZ – Which political party are you blaming for child and spousal abuse?
ZZ, the alternative is death, I guess then you don’t have any worries about money or your car payment. Lookup what happened with the Spanish Flu, when we lifted restrictions too early.
@Joatmeal When people are pushed up against the wall, as they are in this case, they react and take it out on family members. Pick whichever political party you want to blame it on. The fact of the matter is it’s happening.
We need to open our businesses… all of them, now. Wear a mask to all businesses. Wash your hands frequently and keep your immune system healthy. If you don’t know how to keep your immune system healthy, Google it or talk to your doctor.
Pyrrhus
The alternative is death?
There are an 862 reported (estimated) cases of Covid-19 in Contra Costa County and 3.17 million estimated cases world wide. So all these people are going to die? No one recovers from Covid-19? It’s shelter in place or die?
I guess the Swedes are just out of luck.
Nice fear mongering.
Oh here is article about a study by University of California, Berkeley, and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, UCB Berkeley News dated April 24th titled: Study challenges reports of low fatality rate for COVID-19. The study was authored by Uros Seljak, a UC Berkeley professor of physics, faculty scientist at Berkeley Lab and member of the Berkeley Institute for Data Science. He also is co-director of the Berkeley Center for Cosmological Physics (BCCP).
“The Lombardy region of Italy, for example, was a viral hotspot, with the province of Bergamo hardest hit: The infection spread to so many people in Bergamo — likely two-thirds of the population, if not the entire population — that it is possible that so-called herd immunity has set in, Seljak said. That means that enough people are immune, at least temporarily, to stanch the spread of the virus among the the uninfected.
With essentially everyone in Bergamo infected, and the known deaths since January — predicted to be more than 6,000 out of a population of 1 million — it was easy to calculate the lowest possible infected fatality rate: 0.56%.
For Lombardy, the researchers estimated that the lowest possible fatality rate was even higher: about 0.84%. They also estimated that 23% of the population of Lombardy was infected, as of April 18 — on average, 35 times the number of positive tests in the province.”
To help out: Stanford Univ. estimated the fatality rate of Covid-19 at 0.1% and 0.2% and UC Berkeley estimates the fatality rate at .084%.
Whatever study you look at, both agree the fatality rate of Covid-19 is under 1% and for the Lombardy region, and on average, the actually infected rate was also 35 times the number of positive tests in the province. Let that sink in for a moment.
ZZ – There’s no excuse for abuse and it isn’t a reason to lift the SIP.
Welcome to the technocracy.
As with the last edict from the appointed county employees, it will not change what I do very much at all.
Prudent precautions are advisable and followed.
Otherwise, I believe this cower in place restrictions of freedoms is just not for me.
Ya’ll can do what you want, I’ll do what I want, safely.
True that!!!
Give me liberty or give me death
@Safety Second
The problem with that mentality in a mass public health crisis like this is that by not following prudent guidance of health officials, you and other like-minded individuals risk the health (READ, LIBERTY) of your fellow Americans.
Safety – why do you want to take away other Americans’ freedom?
People who are worried about contracting or spreading illness are fully welcomed to maintain sheltering in place. No one’s choice (read liberty) is being stripped of them. Freedom to choose isn’t pretty, often, it leads to making bad choices… but those bad choices are up to the individual to make, or not make as it were. This whole “what about other people” narrative is old, other people care mainly about themselves and how things affect them personally. Certainly, they aren’t going to be paying my bills or raising my children…my concern about them is not going to be a prominent deciding factor in the decisions I make.
If a large chunk of people one decided that they were going to resume working and going about their day to day got sick and died due to lack of hospital space, it would be a net benefit to those that sheltered in place. The problem with the the quarantine warriors is: They don’t want people to venture outside, NOT have the apocalypse happen, and bring to the sunlight that they aren’t the stay at home heroes they thought they were.
“People who are worried about contracting or spreading illness are fully welcomed to maintain sheltering in place.”
So you are conceding that you aren’t worried about spreading illnesses to others? That fits in with:
“This whole “what about other people” narrative is old, other people care mainly about themselves and how things affect them personally.”
It sounds like you, personally, are not concerned about others.
“If a large chunk of people one decided that they were going to resume working and going about their day to day got sick and died due to lack of hospital space, it would be a net benefit to those that sheltered in place.” WTAF? People dying is not a net benefit to anyone. What are you talking about?
If you want to work you really can. Go humble yourself and work food delivery,drive a truck,Amazon is hiring so are a lot of grocery stores and pharmacies are too. Stop complaining! Laziness and privilege has made has made this country an embarrassment. Prove you’re a patriot by not endangering others because you need a damn haircut. Trump sucks btw.
The best estimate for a vaccine being ready and available is 1 year from now. We can’t stop the economy for that long. There is no honest word when testing for all would be readily available. What criteria should we use to start opening things up?
This is what is driving me nuts. What is the benchmark that we are aiming for to reopen things? I saw Newsom’s sort of guidelines, but I don’t get what we are buying by locking down longer. If we open restaurants and shops in a month, guess what will happen? Infections will go back up, followed by deaths. If we do it in two months, or two days, the same thing will happen. Do they think they will get total infections down to such a low number they won’t take off again after restrictions are eased?
After all of this, we are back at square one until we have herd immunity or a vaccine, so why keep delaying the inevitable?
Hey Doh,
Not sure where you are getting your info about a vaccine being available a year from now. We have never successfully created a vaccine for a coronavirus and most articles I’ve read believe it will be much, much longer before one is ready. Perhaps there never will be one. What do we do then?
Wage Slave, I totally agree with your question…What is the benchmark that we are aiming for to reopen things? First we were told we were locking down to flatten the curve so as not to overwhelm hospitals, and that has happened. Now we have to continue to SIP for what? What are we aiming for here?
The answer is nothing…we’ll stay in SIP until Gavin feels like letting us out. My guess is we will get out for a couple of months in the summer and then back in for fall and winter into next spring.
Do what the King of California says. And when asked, show your papers! Remember he knows whats best for you.
I was mad at first, but if I get a stimulus check I’m gonna come out ahead!…..woot woot!!…………gettin’ over $1000 a week in unemployment and not buying gas.
That’s comforting to me, knowing I make much less than you, while going to work and taking the higher risk of infection to make sure the community can buy food.
This whole mess will destabilize eventually. Just a matter of how long.
I pray you are being sarcastic … yuck
@ wage slave … thank you for keeping on working! You are better off
Physically and mentally than someone milking the system!
If I’m not mistaken and they have made an exception, in order to continue collecting unemployment benefits you must be actively looking for a job — and, if you aren’t, benefits are terminated and you are not allowed to collect or receive benefits for up to a year.
I do agree with the CCC’s decision to extend the SIP but, really feel like we are in prison for way too long. I understand people’s feeling to dying to open up the business. The process of getting vaccine is going to be one year from now and should reopen the business now. Like I said, the vaccine still stuck in the mud. If you are scared to go to the business than just volunteering to stay home.
It looks like shooting ranges are clear to open. Woohoo!
So, will the cops be on hand to ensure the illegal alien “construction workers” standing in front of Home Depot maintain 6-foot intervals? Funny how the first industry to get the green light is overwhelmingly employed with Latinos and illegal aliens.
Anonymous,
I quit going there a year ago due to the IACW issues. The faux security guards, tamale and fruit vendors in the parking lot, and garbage strewn everywhere don’t make that store a quality destination. HD Martinez and Lowe’s are great.
Who wants to bet Galvin the jerk changes the date again?
Why bet on a sure thing?
The red states will open as quickly as possible and try to recover lost economic ground. The blue states will drag out the economic devastation until the election or until citizens revolt, whichever comes first.
For both parties, this is a very dangerous game they are all playing. They both are making huge bets and citizens are tired of it.
Everyone has the same goal: to open up and go back to the way life was before the pandemic. But how do we do that most successfully? Open fully now and have a surge and close down again, or do as scientists and medical experts say, bring down the numbers and bring up the testing, tracing and PPE capacity and open responsibly and permanently ? I choose the latter (and, yes, I’m already severely impacted with my job).
Great if you’re not afraid to get sick, but it’s really about not spreading it to the community
No one has shown me the studies which prove that ‘cower-in-place’ is not harmful for children. And here I thought human experimentation was against the law without all sorts of protections.
Why would they?
“A pandemic of this scale is unprecedented,” What? You mean its unprecedented because only 25 people died, or the fact that the health Nazis drove a wooden stake through the heart of a thriving economy?
Let me translate the good doctor’s statement. ” We over reacted. We made conclusions and models based on incomplete data. We still don’t know what we are doing. Now, to save face and make it look like what we did worked we will slowly roll back the illegal SIP. Bit by bit, we will let you have your rights back, but only if you behave. Remember the boogeyman is still out there. Have no fear children we have inconclusive subjective science on our side.”
The only thing unprecedented about this bug is the fact that so many Americans cowered in place and surrendered their rights so easily.
JRocks So true that is mite concerning then the virus
When they get it right, I guess they’ll let us know. Until then they are only practicing medicine, and what’s worse they freely admit they are practicing.
You need to expand your scope beyond your neighborhood. Look at state, the country as a whole, then the world. Compare those numbers.
Jrocks, you rock!
The Quarantine in Place is unprecedented. And the fact that so many cowards just accepted it without looking at it. The initial reaction, sure, SIP, but as soon as you realize that you have overreacted, move on. Let go of the Sleep Train arena, release the businesses …
We will not get better until we get a vaccine or herd immunity steps in. Herd cannot happen unless we get outside. Vaccine is a year a way … if they can come up with one for a virus, not that common.
Only ignorant people think this is not a real threat. Ask Italy. Ask NYC. The virus is real and even Trump( who came to that conclusion late) believes is worth SIP. The only non believers are conspiracy enthusiasts and plain “I don’t give a Sh-t about anyone but Me”
Actually you are very wrong we do care about people small business who are now closing who can’t pay there rent feed their families Galvin newsom hasn’t come up with a smart plan to help these people All he has done is give people hope then pull the rug from under them moving the dates and such shouldn’t your outrage be towards Galvin?
@concerned Sweden has done quite well with very little of the tyrannical and autocratic measures taken by Newsom.
@concerned. I second that! Narrow minded idiots who get all of their news off of facebook and twitter.
Why don’t you ask the 130 million who could die from starvation because of these worldwide shut downs? And please don’t tell me that’s just an estimation – because we’re using estimations when we talk about potential COVID-19 deaths.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/u-n-warns-hunger-pandemic-amid-threats-coronavirus-economic-downturn-n1189326
AConcerned, You are so right, I have a close friend, he is conservative, he is a somewhat supporter of Trump (likes his policies, his personality not so much) he takes this seriously, been in this country since he was a teen ager, but came from Italy and still have family there, he does not want that to happen here.
Real and overreacting are two different things.
yes, the virus is real. Yes, lots of people died because of it. Do we have an accurate count, no because you do not have to have a positive test to be counted as a COVID patient, and just because you are positive does not mean that caused your death. NYC is severely crowded, think that has anything to do with it?
Yes Italy had lots of dead. Old population compressed together in small apartments. Lots of underlying health issues. How does that compare to us?
Or are you saying we should all be judged the same way? LA county and Shasta county should be treated the same …
I am CONCERNED for the folks responding to these articles that are not thinking and only believing whatever the leader says.
The latest data shows that the areas with the strictest SIP have had the worst outcomes. The relationship is causal, not a mere correlation.
That the effectiveness of SIP was never questioned by the media should have been a red flag that we were being manipulated.
But if you haven’t caught on that the media is horribly corrupt, then you’ll want to take a look at the beach-front property I have for sale in Arizona. Its dirt cheap and I’ll even throw in a few Covid masks.
Real and overreacting are two different things.
Yes and subjective.
@ann
No. My anger is at the people who think all this is just a plot against America or a much a do about nothing. Newsom is doing a good job. We have less deaths than states with much lower population. Agree that people are hurting but denying the problem is worse . We will recover from the economic impacts but when your dead, there is no recovery.
Ozzie
You may be confused, real is objective. It is found through facts and data that are not manipulated to show one person specific agenda.
Overreacting could be subjective.
I even said they were two different things, yet you said they were both objective. Wrong again on your part.
@ Yoyo Hop
How is that. do you think that California had not a very strict SIP? The current numbers as infections/population and deaths/population in California certainly don’t look very bad compared to other states.
I believe I also saw you posting about Sweden the other day claiming to have achieved “herd immunity”. I’m curios to hear you take on this. What information do you have? What percentage of the population is infected? How was it measured? Are you aware that many of the current antibody tests lack specificity and seem to cross react with other human corona viruses? What do you know from these numbers regarding the titer and the quality of the antibodies? Will they neutralize? How long will they last. What percentage of seroconversion do you need to achieve herd immunity for CoV-2? As a matter of fact we know that in the US about 40 to 45 percent of the population gets the annual flu shot and despite this we still get tens of thousands deaths due to seasonal flu.
States that didn’t shut down like Utah or South Dakota did not experience a sudden increase as compared to previous years of flu or cold.
Florida was slow to shut down and early to open. Its rates of Covid were nowhere near as dire as predicted. New York City on the other hand seems to have worsened the rate by keeping people indoors and concentrating people on to mass transit.
SIP in California is impossible to uniformly enforce. But it looks like Covid has been here longer than previous models accounted for. At no point were there catastrophic death tolls. Even given the potential for statistical shenanigans, we didn’t get a death toll that was much out of line from what we’d expect from flu every year.
That “exponential growth” never happened. Not here and not in Sweden. I don’t need a microscope or lab coat to understand that.
The justification for the SIP was to prevent the hospitals from being overrun. Once again, the doom and gloom never came and yet our freedoms are still being restricted.
oops sorry for the typos. But I hope you still get my questions.
Shakespeare was right! “What fools these mortals be.”
Thanks China!