Jerry Roberts
By Jerry Roberts of Newsmakers
Amid growing debate over California’s broad stay-at-home order, state Senator Hannah Beth Jackson said on Monday that lifting social distancing restrictions too soon will “prolong the public health problem” by leading to new spikes in coronavirus sickness and death.
In a Newsmakers interview, Jackson’s comment came as calls are growing for state and local government to ease off restrictions, in view of statistical coronavirus forecasts that show social distancing has helped California “flatten the curve” in keeping the spread, at least so far, from overwhelming medical resources.
As hospitalizations due to COVID-19 have flattened – while unemployment claims have soared – Jackson, however, sided with Governor Gavin Newsom in urging patience over lifting the statewide order that has shut down large segments of California’s economy.
On other elements of the crisis, Jackson:
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Explained the extent to which the state has been overwhelmed by a “tsunami” of unemployment claims, but said the Employment Development Department has expanded both its staff and its hours and now is working “24 hours a day, seven days a week” on processing claims.
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Said she is concerned about insurance companies using fine print, added to many policies after the MERS and SARS epidemics, to disqualify businesses from “business interruption” coverage when their operations have been disrupted by a virus or pandemic.
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Expressed concern about how the pandemic will impact the remainder of the legislative session, both in terms of her own agenda of bills and, more broadly, the state budget, which will be hammered by expected declines in income, capital gains, sales and other taxes.
However, Jackson said, California was better positioned to deal with the pandemic because of experience gained during the series of wildfires and other recent disasters that have struck the state.
“We were the best-prepared state in the nation for this,” she said.
Here’s the latest on reopening from Gov. Newsom: https://www.politico.com/states/california/story/2020/04/14/california-reopening-could-involve-customer-temperature-checks-staggered-class-times-1275895
gee, it’s funny how freedoms can be so easily removed because of assumption.
and yet, none of the scared sheep will accept an assumption to restore those freedoms.
You extreme egotarians don’t seem to understand that freedoms come with responsibilities to your fellow citizens.
There’s an example of some real leadership in a crisis.
Xantus – what freedoms are you concerned with? The right to assemble is not being removed, it’s being limited, as allowed by our Constitution.
Where’d you buy the world salad? The .99 cent nonsense store?
This run is over- Let’s get on with LIFE… (BTW, part of life is risks, it hasn’t changed over the centuries)
88 – neither are most people here. What’s your point?
But they at least have the sense to listen to people who are experts.
Please take coronavirus seriously
Yes, take the time needed to keep us safe. BUT…..it’s time to get more creative than just cancelling and closing everything. Is anyone trying to come up with ways we can still carry on with life, but safely?
Mayor Murillo has come up with any number of “creative” ideas of what we can do in Santa Barbara to help our entire community. I was hoping that she would post them on her Facebook page, but I did not see them there as of a few minutes ago. Not on her SB Mayor web page either.
Hey Alex, no actually I got that “word salad” right from the Govorner!
“While Californians have stepped up in a big way to flatten the curve and buy us time to prepare to fight the virus, at some point in the future we will need to modify our stay-at-home order,” said Governor Newsom. “As we contemplate reopening parts of our state, we must be guided by science and data, and we must understand that things will look different than before.”
—–gee, wasn’t flatten the curve pure speculation? and now we’re going to base it on science and data! /gasp! that’s all i said! no constitutional rant here. I just wonder where they’re actually going to get that data from when they’re only testing 0.7-0.8% of the population.
10:21 – do any of Murillo’s ideas have to do with getting youth/high school baseball going again? I can’t sit here and look at this weather without baseball!
Quoted words of wisdom followed by more word salad.