Good judgment, unforced errors; grading Stanislaus leadership in the coronavirus crisis

Four months after Stanislaus County detected its first COVID-19 infection, it’s time to reflect on local leadership.

Our leaders of course are affected by higher-ups in Sacramento and Washington, who send conflicting messages and directives. Rarely has the country been more politically divided, at a time when we desperately need to unite.

Our local leaders’ jobs are made more difficult by the unprecedented (in our lifetimes) nature of the coronavirus pandemic. They’ve been forced to build the airplane in flight, with no precedent to guide decisions. We should expect mistakes, and forgive many.

The Modesto Bee Editorial Board has focused scrutiny on Stanislaus County and its Board of Supervisors because they bear the lion’s share of local responsibility in this crisis. It’s not entirely their fault that too many people have ignored their advice, and that provided by leaders and experts on every level — to stay home and apart and wear masks in public — leading to our currently dire circumstances.

Good work, Stanislaus leaders

County officials have worked tirelessly to confront the virus. It’s clear their efforts have improved the lives of many, from setting aside $1 million in local small-business microgrants to sharing federal stimulus money with our ailing cities. The county also quickly prepared the old Scenic Hospital to care for COVID patients overflowing from our area hospitals.

The county should be applauded for complying with various editorial demands:

• Weeks ago they began reporting COVID cases by zip code instead of merely by city, allowing people a more accurate look at where each community stands.
• Stanislaus leaders moved testing to west Modesto. People there are being hit hard by the virus but many have limited means of transportation to testing sites in other areas.
• Perhaps the county’s most impressive move was mandating face coverings in public, an order that came one day before Gov. Gavin Newsom’s similar rule covering all of California.

• Early on, weekly question-answer sessions with community leaders, especially medical experts, were helpful and effective. It’s too bad they’ve waned as our COVID numbers shoot skyward.

Each decision would have earned Stanislaus leaders more credit if they had not followed prodding by the newspaper. But they did respond, to the benefit of all.

Stanislaus’ unforced errors

Unfortunately, this four-month path also has been littered with missteps, including recent unforced errors.

On Monday, Dr. Julie Vaishampayan, Stanislaus’ public health officer, posted from her new headquarters a 2 1/2-minute video update of the county’s bleak coronavirus outlook. An unmasked staff member in the background, just over Dr. V’s right shoulder, violated the mask rule even as Dr. V explained why face coverings are essential to stopping the virus’ spread. One would think Dr. V might have reminded the group behind her to keep their masks on just for 2 1/2 minutes, to avoid the appearance of hypocrisy.

One also would think that the area’s newest power couple would use better judgment at their June 27 wedding. Just three weeks after Amy Vickery, Stanislaus’ public information officer, went on camera reminding people to avoid gatherings, keep six feet apart and wear masks, she married Modesto Police Chief Galen Carroll in an event whose attendees violated each of those points.

Yes, it was a private event at a private venue (near San Luis Obispo) on off-duty time. And yes, the couple had reason to believe when deciding to go forward with the wedding that the economy was reopening instead of contracting. And yes, they pared their guest list from 250 down to about 50, held the event outdoors with plenty of spacing and put out bottles of hand sanitizer. But “do as I say, not as I do” hypocrisy by those charged with forming and presenting government’s message is a bad look and can kill public trust and credibility.

Our leaders’ most enduring blunder might be the Board of Supervisors’ May decision ordering all county employees, including sheriff’s deputies, to look the other way should businesses operate in violation of the state’s shutdown order.

To her credit, board Chairwoman Kristin Olsen on Tuesday asked her colleagues to reconsider the ill-advised edict, saying it’s not fair to businesses that are expending considerable resources to keep the rules when others flagrantly scoff at them. It wasn’t clear whether other supervisors will support the idea of reversing their little snub at a progressive governor.

And they continue snubbing. Faced with accepting $12.7 million in COVID grants on condition of following Newsom’s rules, on Tuesday they grudgingly took the money and set it aside in case they later decide to give it back. Supervisor Vito Chiesa’s reasoned plea, “It’s money we need in this community to provide services for those who are most vulnerable,” seemed to gain little traction with the others.

Political talking points

This, at a public meeting where one leader — Supervisor Jim DeMartini — described the problem as “a lab-created virus” from “Communist China,” and said Sweden has not suffered much despite refusing to shut down its economy. Dr. V corrected both pieces of misinformation.

Tuesday’s meeting also brought a public apology for the county’s egregious underreporting of positive cases. Partly because of an irrational fear of duplications, the local team is staggering under a backlog and had reported nearly 1,100 cases fewer than those shown for our county on the state’s website. Stanislaus officials erased the backlog Thursday by integrating state numbers.

A few days ago, Olsen offered a misleading and insensitive comment suggesting that things weren’t so bad here because our hospitals had plenty of open beds. Virulent backlash forced her to walk that back the next day, when she acknowledged that hospitals actually are stretched thin. And we’ve learned since that nearly all open ICU beds in reality are sized for infants and can’t be repurposed for adults.

Never in recent memory have our county supervisors’ political views — all are Republican — been put on such display. County supervisor is supposed to be a nonpartisan office. Ours miss no opportunity to disrespect Newsom, whose strong showing early in the COVID crisis has deteriorated recently with his own missteps. But local disdain was not warranted two weeks ago when our supervisors stubbornly refused to do one simple thing requested by the state: close bars, where unprotected young adults blamed for some of the spike were congregating.

Although scrutiny rightly is focused on county leaders, most Stanislaus mayors participated in an early major fail as well. All but those in Patterson and Newman in April signed a misguided letter to Newsom demanding an “immediate and aggressive” reopening of Stanislaus businesses, citing differences between the Valley and San Francisco or Los Angeles. At the time, The Bee said that was a flawed request; 12 weeks later, with more COVID cases here than in much-larger San Francisco, it’s laughable.

The Bee will continue noting leaders’ wins and lapses, but the final outcome depends on each person doing our part. Government can influence behavior, but it cannot control stupidity and selfishness.

This story was originally published July 12, 2020 at 5:00 AM.