Thursday, June 25, 2020

South County racism; an OC Covid-19 spike; other news

The latest data — a shocking spike
(orange line: 7-day average; that's the more relevant factoid)
Voice of OC
Formerly, Saddleback "Gaucho"
     At a high school tucked away in the hills of San Juan Capistrano, a grand staircase separates the upper level of the campus from the lower level.
     During the school year, Latino students usually fill the lunch tables downstairs, while mostly white students and others sit upstairs.
     San Juan Hills High School alum Olivia Fu — now a junior at Stanford University — remembers training to be a member of the school’s student leadership program, “Link Crew,” when a senior member, giving a tour of the campus, pointed to the tables near the bottom of the stairs and said “that’s where the beaners sit.”…. (continued)
OC Register
Board of Supes Prez Michelle Steel
1. Soaring case counts 
. . . 
2. Record hospitalization numbers 
. . . 
3. Rising death projections 
. . . 
4. Troubling testing trends 
. . . 
5. Outbreaks at congregate living settings…. (see)
Newsom threatens California counties that defy coronavirus rules as cases spike
San Francisco Chronicle
Don Wagner
SACRAMENTO — Gov. Gavin Newsom could withhold financial relief from local governments in the upcoming state budget if they do not follow guidelines that he says are necessary to tamp down the spike in coronavirus cases in California.
     The budget deal with legislative leaders announced this week ties $750 million in funding to replace lost tax revenue for county services, as well as $1.3 billion for counties and $500 million for cities from the federal bailout package, to local governments’ compliance with the stay-at-home order and other state requirements on the coronavirus response.
     Newsom, through his Department of Finance, could order state officials not to send local governments their portion of the money if they do not certify they are following the rules, which include a new mandate for Californians to wear masks nearly everywhere outside the home…..
     At a news conference Wednesday, the governor said that authority would give him leverage over those who “simply thumb their nose” at state guidelines. He did not specify how cities and counties would be expected to prove their compliance, though he added that he was trying to encourage good behavior rather than punish bad behavior.
. . .

     Since the state rolled out its requirement for face coverings last week, county sheriffs and local police chiefs from Orange County to Sacramento have announced that they do not plan to enforce the order. The mayor of Nevada City, in Nevada County, encouraged residents to defy the mandate to “prevent all of us from slipping down the nasty slope of tyranny.”
. . .
     On Wednesday, Newsom pleaded with the public to continue washing their hands, wearing face coverings and avoiding large crowds and intimate gatherings.
     “Consider others in your life and strangers. Love thy neighbors like yourself,” he said. “If you cannot practice physical distancing, then are you practicing love?”
San Diego Union-Tribune 
     A large and sudden increase in coronavirus infections across San Diego County has raised doubts about whether UC San Diego will be able to proceed with plans to welcome students back to campus for the fall quarter.
     The university had been expected to release its “Return to Learn” plan late last week. But the announcement has been delayed several times to give UCSD time to evaluate the surge in cases that are being reported regionally.
     On Wednesday county health officials announced a record 332 positive test results for COVID-19, three days after 310 became the new record. The number of COVID-19 related hospitalizations also has been growing.
     The surge surprised and alarmed UCSD officials, who have been planning to announce that it will reopen this fall, in part, by offering a COVID-19 test to all of its 65,000 students, faculty and staff. Such tests would be voluntary…. (continued)

Roy's obituary in LA Times and Register: "we were lucky to have you while we did"

  This ran in the Sunday December 24, 2023 edition of the Los Angeles Times and the Orange County Register : July 14, 1955 - November 20, 2...