“Virus invading”: why California is losing the fight against Covid | US News

Early coronavirus pandemic, California It was celebrated as a light of common sense in a country at stake.

As Donald Trump Repellent Masks and restrictions, and telling Americans that the virus “came out of nowhere” and “someday miraculously disappeared,” California leaders first asked their residents to evacuate. I ordered.

For months, the state seemed to have avoided the calamities that occurred in New York and Louisiana. Despite being the most populous state in the United States with the highest number of direct flights to the first center of the pandemic in China, California’s mortality rate remained low.

But by early summer, there was increased pressure to open backups. Authorities have found that the state is unaffected by social distance and public fatigue from wearing masks. The incident sneaked up in a patchwork of accidental rules and guidelines.

“The most challenging moment”

Today, most of California is blocked in a dramatic surge in infectious diseases. The state aggregated more than 1.3 million cases and broke the record last week with more than 25,000 infections recorded each day.

Los Angeles County passed last week Disturbing milestone 10,000 new Covid-19 cases per day, resulting in a surge in infectious diseases due to Thanksgiving holidays Hospitalization Further surge. LA official said one is now Dead Every 20 minutes Covid, and the county’s director of public health, Barbara Ferrer, Crying At a briefing while talking about the “immeasurable loss” of more than 8,000 dead.

In San Francisco, the average case rate has skyrocketed from 15 to 30 per 100,000 residents since vacation. And in San Diego, near the border between the United States and Mexico, Over 1,000 People are infected every day.

“This is the most difficult moment since the pandemic began,” said California Governor Gavin Newsom last week. “Life is balanced. If you don’t do it more than ever, you’ll lose your life.”

Hospitals throughout the state are already overloaded. In Southern California capacity The proportion of intensive care units has decreased to 10%. In Santa Clara County, Bay Area, there are only 31 ICU beds left for 2 million residents. San Francisco is expected to run out of ICU beds by December 27th.

“The virus is now invading all of us,” said Marcia Santini, a registered nurse in the emergency department at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Medical Center. “We are struggling to protect ourselves and our patients. The next few months will be really scary.”

Frontline staff say they are increasingly fighting burnout after months of devastation and in the dark winter. Erick Fernandez, a 30-year-old ER nurse at Antelope Valley Hospital (AVH), a facility north of LA, said: “Most of us have the same idea-what if we got the illness? What if it was our family?”

Fernandez Hospital Recently received a state exemption In the midst of Covid’s massive surge, he said, increasing the number of patients per nurse and exacerbating staff stress. “We do our best, but it is emotionally and mentally burdensome.”

According to Santini, it was frustrating that the public didn’t seem to take Covid’s protocol seriously. “We go to work every day and align our lives with our family’s lives.”

Return to blockade

Faced with an increasingly critical situation, the state moved to impose new home orders last week. This is a regional command, this time triggered when the regional ICU capacity falls below 15%. Southern California, the Central Valley, and the Sacramento region quickly crossed the threshold. In the Bay Area, county authorities have taken preemptive measures. “We’re not just doing this because we want to do it, it’s about people’s lives,” said London Breed, the mayor of San Francisco.

Political leaders and health officials say the new restrictions are important. “The virus is now ubiquitous in our city and in so many areas that have never been established,” said Dr. Grant Corfax, director of the San Francisco Public Health Service. “Because there are more viruses than ever before, even low-risk activities now carry significant risks. Simply put, frankly, it’s hard to escape by doing well. can not.”

But the reaction from Californians is more complicated. Many expect it to last until Christmas, rules that require residents to stay home except for basic activities, bar hotels accept most out-of-state guests, outdoor dining and personal care businesses Closing is a complex and seemingly contradictory era.

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Why can residents continue to produce retail shopping and entertainment when they need to minimize contact with people in other households? Why did the rules first order the playground to be closed when the indoor shopping center was left open? And why do Californians need to limit social contact between the Governor and the Mayor of San Francisco? Attend the celebration At a Michelin-starred restaurant?

Monica Gandhi, an infectious disease specialist at the University of California, San Francisco, said Californians, like Americans across the country, are facing “true pandemic fatigue.” In other words, unlike the beginning of the pandemic, the blockade “faces reduced compliance.”

Indeed, opposition to new measures was particularly strong in rural counties, some of which have long been repulsive – and Sometimes rebelled – Restrictions on all types of coronavirus, despite the spread of the virus mainly among Latino people Low-income agricultural workers Those who maintain the state’s $ 50 billion agricultural industry.

The restaurant industry, which has been hit hardest, is also opposed to the new regulations.Some restaurants Invested thousands In the outdoor dining infrastructure, I wanted the pandemic to continue, but I only saw the facility ordered to close.

According to a survey by the organization, Sharokina Shams, a spokeswoman for the California Restaurant Association, found that 43% of restaurant owners are uncertain whether their business will survive for the next six months. “People who started frustration-today they feel completely desperate.”

Exacerbation of inequality

Meanwhile, the latest Covid surges continue to shed unequal harsh light. California has seen record unemployment and countless companies have been permanently closed, but some sectors, especially the tech industry, continue to make money. Economists predict that there will be a so-called “K-shaped recovery” in post-pandemic California. In this recovery, the income of the highest-income earners will continue to rise as rapidly as the plunge of those in distress.

Latin Americans in LA CountyMany of them do important work, but are infected with the virus more than twice as often as white residents.Toll Working class neighborhood It was especially devastating to undocumented people who did not have access to aid.

“It’s really disastrous for our people. They have the right to pay for sick leave, but that doesn’t mean that their rights are respected,” said Marissa Nuncio. Defending LA Sewing Workers A person who faced an outbreak of Covid at a factory that manufactures masks. The Nuncio said nine months after the pandemic, he was receiving a call from an infected worker who had difficulty accessing tests and was afraid to go to the hospital. “They just say,’I hope I can recover at home.'”

Malta Induni, head of research at the Auckland-based non-profit public health institute, said the new blockade measures are mostly to address these inequality due to lack of support for workers. Said it was useless. “We have a confluence of factors that people are facing financial instability, and it feels like they have no choice but to work when they get sick,” she said. “And especially in California, there are many people who have been demonized by the federal government and are particularly vulnerable and undocumented.”

Activists want California to take these inequality into account when planning to distribute the Covid-19 vaccine.California is on track Receive 327,000 doses The first shipment will arrive at the hospital within a few days. The state aims to provide vaccines to 2.16 million people by the end of the year, including health care workers and residents of long-term care facilities.

Authorities have Pledge Consider racial equality in distribution activities, Build trust To reach the most devastated community with vaccines.