California Imposes Nighttime COVID-19 Curfew But Some Resist

Speaker 1: 00:00 Reactions to the partial stay at home order issued by state officials. Thursday have been both mixed and muted. The order calls for a curfew beginning tomorrow on people in businesses between the hours of 10:00 PM and 5:00 AM. Speaker 2: 00:14 Why are we doing this? And what are we hoping to gain? It's really to avoid further restrictions. We know, and we've seen in the past that COVID goes from zero to 60 miles per hour, very quickly that we in a place today, but that can rapidly change. Maybe not statewide, maybe just in a handful of counties, but further restrictions is what we hope to avoid. But all tools are on the table. We have sort of that top shelf of the toolbox. We continue to use those tools, but on that bottom shelf, if necessary, we will explore further restrictions, but we hope today's actions, our collective coming together, our resolve to, um, you know, keep our protective, uh, behaviors up will help us STEM the tide and bring these surgery numbers down very, very soon. Speaker 1: 01:05 Exceptions include essential workers, minor excursions to walk the dog or pick up a few groceries and delivery of food from restaurants. Critics say this sends the wrong message to businesses. Who've been struggling to adhere to strict safety measures, but since the curfew falls largely overnight, it may not have much impact on most people's lives and activities. Joining me is Barbara fader Ostroff, a reporter with Cal matters and Barbara, welcome to the program. Thank you. Now, first of all, this is not really a statewide curfew. Is it how much of California is affected by this new rule? Speaker 3: 01:41 No, it's not statewide. It applies only to counties in the most restrictive purple tier of California's reopening plan, but it does affect nearly all Californians. About 95% of us live in the 41 counties currently in the purple tier. Speaker 1: 01:57 Why do state officials say that they are imposing this overnight curfew now? Speaker 3: 02:01 Well, California had earlier seemed to Dodge the surge of cases that we've been seeing around the nation, particularly in the Midwest, but in the past couple of weeks, the state health officials have been really concerned because our cases and hospitalizations have shot up sharply. There were more than 11,000 cases reported a couple of days ago, and that number seems to be going up. State officials also say that they're concerned about people gathering or traveling for Thanksgiving. And they're trying to curb the expected spike in cases after the holiday. Speaker 1: 02:35 How did they think specifically though, that this overnight curfew will decrease the growing number of cases, Speaker 3: 02:41 Evidence that gatherings that go beyond your household, especially at bars and restaurants, where it's tougher to wear a mask all the time are a key way to spread the virus. Officials are hoping that reducing the amount of time that people can do that will help reduce the number of cases. Is there any consensus Speaker 1: 03:00 Among scientists that curfews work in slowing down infectious diseases? No, Speaker 3: 03:06 No. Sadly there is not there's little evidence that curfews by themselves can stop the spread of disease and some epidemiologists call them public health theatre, a feel good move that politicians can make that appears to be a strong action. But other experts say that every little bit helps. If you can shorten the hours when people might be gathering and still urge mask wearing and social distancing, that can make a difference, especially when COVID transmission in the community is high. Speaker 1: 03:38 Well now here in San Diego County, sheriff bill Gore is creating an enforcement team of deputies to make sure there's compliance with public health orders, but law enforcement officials have not had that same reaction across the state. Have they? Speaker 3: 03:52 Nope. Dr. Mark golly. The state's top health officials said in a press conference yesterday that the state wants to take a reasonable approach to enforcing the curfew. You won't be cited for walking your dog after 10:00 PM, for example, but some sheriffs, especially for more conservative counties, like Fresno said, they would not enforce the curfew. And some people also worry about disproportionate enforcement of the curfew in communities of color as happened during the black lives matter protest earlier this year. Speaker 1: 04:23 Is it up to the counties to decide to what degree they want to go along with the new stay at home order? Speaker 3: 04:29 Um, well this is a statewide order. So counties do have to abide by it. However enforcement can vary between counties. Speaker 1: 04:39 It seems as if most businesses won't be terribly affected by the new curfew restrictions, but California businesses in general are getting increasingly antsy about how the overall restrictions are coming down on them. Can you tell us about some complaints? You've heard? Speaker 3: 04:54 Sure. We hear all the time from restaurants and bars that they just can't keep a float under the restrictions. They're asked to abide by, uh, we talked to Rob Lapsley, the president of the California business round table, and he said, this was a particularly bad time for a curfew coming into the holiday season because that's when some businesses make most of their money for the year, restaurants do Thanksgiving dinners and retail stores may stay up in late for Christmas shoppers. None of that's going to be able to happen now after 10:00 PM, 10:00 PM Speaker 1: 05:28 And our business groups demanding a state stimulus package since they haven't seen anything from the, the national government. Speaker 3: 05:36 Yes, they've said that the state has more money than an anticipated. Uh, some new estimates recently came out so that, uh, that surplus should be shared with struggling businesses Speaker 1: 05:48 When state health and human services director, dr. Galley, who you referenced, announced the restrictions yesterday. Did he hint that there could be tighter public health measures to come? Speaker 3: 05:59 It's always possible, but the state had already put into place tighter measures a week earlier, including pushing counties into the purple tier more quickly and toughening up the state's mask order. So it's unclear and we'll have to stay tuned. Speaker 1: 06:14 Okay. Hey, we will. I've been speaking with Barbara fader. Ostrov a reporter with Cal matters. Thank you so much, Barbara. Thank you. Speaker 3: 06:33 [inaudible].