Stapley: California’s COVID tier colors are still a joke in Stanislaus County
So Stanislaus County will spend at least another few days in the red tier instead of moving up to the orange tier.
Yeah. Whatever.
Does anyone truly think life will dramatically change when we finally escape red? Did it in March, when we jumped from purple to red?
Not really. It might have, if people had been paying attention to the state’s rules for COVID-19 containment.
But they weren’t back then, and they sure don’t seem to care much now.
In our current designation — red — restaurants are supposed to limit indoor service to 25% capacity. If any actually follow that rule, please let me know so I can sing their praises. Otherwise, my observations put most eateries in two categories: those that are open with no restrictions, and those that aren’t.
An upgrade to orange could be enough, I suppose, for some theaters to reopen at half capacity. But our stores don’t seem to be turning away customers to stay under 50% capacity, as they’re supposed to in the red tier.
If California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s four-tier virus strategy worked at all, it might have been in the first few weeks, when more people were sick and dying and many of us were scared and starved for information and guidance.
Local leaders share some blame for the nonchalance that soon set it. The letter that most Stanislaus mayors sent to Newsom in April 2020, demanding an immediate and aggressive reopening of businesses here, gave some permission to believe that the coronavirus was a hoax. County supervisors announcing in May 2020 that officials would look the other way if businesses ignored COVID rules harmed their credibility when some of them later asked people to wear masks, and to get vaccinated.
Thank government for mask confusion
Now federal officials say masks are no longer needed if you’ve had your shots, and state officials tell us to keep wearing them for now, and Congress is debating what to do about face coverings on Capitol Hill, and some states threaten legal action against cities requiring masks. With such confusion and mixed messaging, who can blame anyone for lacking confidence in government?
Thoughtful people will be courteous regardless of whether we’re in red or orange, and selfish people have ignored the color coding for months. As the joke (with much truth) goes, the only people wearing masks now don’t really need them, while those who really do, don’t.
This deadly pandemic is no joke. Ask any who have lost loved ones.
And now we learn that California’s tiered COVID strategy will vanish, like aerosol droplets in the breeze, come mid-June.
I’ve got news: For most intents and purposes, it already has.
This story was originally published May 20, 2021 at 9:24 AM.
