Governor Gavin Newsom is responsible for the current increase in COVID-19 cases in California.
At first, it wisely adopted the strategy of Bay Area health officials to control the coronavirus. It worked as the number of cases stabilized in early April. But then the governor, ignoring the warnings of some of those same health officials to take things slow, reversed course and opened the state too quickly.
The result: California is now plagued by a significant increase in coronavirus cases. The numbers had steadily increased since the end of April, but then began to rise sharply in mid-June. Every day, the state’s seven-day trend line reaches record levels.
The increase in cases is not simply due to more evidence; It is also due to a higher percentage of those who have been tested with the virus. The portion of tests that tested positive has increased more than 50% in the past two and a half weeks. Now about 7% of the examinees are infected.
This helps explain why California hospitalizations for COVID-19 have increased 60% since June 13 and have surpassed the state peaks seen in April. Again, some hospitals are preparing to stop performing elective surgeries in order to open more beds for virus patients.
This is the scenario that health experts, especially the Santa Clara County Health Officer, Dr. Sara Cody, warned about. While the state is better prepared than in March, it is still woefully short on testing and contact tracing necessary to stop the virus from spreading.
And, this time, it lacks clear direction from its governor. While Newsom implores us all to do our part: wearing masks, washing our hands, and distancing ourselves socially, he has sent mixed and mixed messages about what constitutes compliance. He staggered between warnings about the dangers of the virus and declarations of the urgent need to reopen the state’s economy.
Meanwhile, even members of their own health department are unclear about how the rules differ from county to county. No wonder people are confused.
Unlike President Trump, Newsom clearly understands the dangers and science of COVID-19. But like the President, the Governor of California loves to hear himself speak and when put in front of a microphone he will ramble for an hour without concentrating, undermining critical warning messages.
Like Trump, Newsom continues to try to take responsibility to the next lowest level of government. Trump says it’s up to states to deal with the coronavirus; Newsom says it depends on the counties.
Both leaders threatened that if they did not like the results, they would intervene. However, Trump and Newsom’s efforts to reopen have undermined attempts by local health officials to hold the line.
Finally, on Wednesday, Newsom acted, seeking to stem the damage created by his own policies. It was heralded as a throwback, ordering bars and many indoor businesses in 19 counties to close its doors. But some of the counties on the list, such as Contra Costa and Santa Clara, had not yet reopened those businesses.
Newsom certainly shows a much deeper understanding of the coronavirus threat than Trump and has modeled responsible behavior. Unlike the president, Newsom is not afraid of being seen in public wearing a mask. It does not say that the virus will suddenly disappear. It is not disconnected from reality.
Unfortunately, the governor has focused too much time in recent months on the reopening side of the challenge rather than containing the virus. Meanwhile, California COVID-19 deaths have continued to rise, now at nearly 6,300. It is shameful that almost half are in nursing homes and that the Newsom administration was pathetically slow to respond to that part of the crisis.
Until there is a vaccine, the best treatment is a widespread and systematic test to ensure that people do not return to their workplaces or otherwise venture without being tested for the virus.
Newsom regularly brags about increasing state testing and tracking contacts. What he doesn’t mention in his near-daily turnaround is that the state is conducting less than half of the tests necessary to reduce the spread of the virus and only about 11 percent of what is required to reopen the economy, according to a analysis by researchers at Harvard.
For tests to be effective in stopping the spread of the virus, they must be accompanied by sufficient screening of people who were in contact with people who tested positive for the virus. There, too, California has only half of what it needs.
Newsom’s leadership has sadly fallen short. In the coming weeks, we’ll see how short the number of California cases is short, followed by proportional increases in hospitalizations and then deaths.
Unfortunately, that will be the best measure of Newsom’s performance.
