Californians who have suffered through months of lockdowns have not been rewarded for their sacrifice with a decrease in coronavirus infections.
The Golden State now has the most dire outbreak in the entire country and some of the toughest restrictions, Breitbart reported.
Tough COVID restrictions
Governor Gavin Newsom (D) was the first in America to enact a stay-at-home order, and his state’s restrictions have been among the strictest nationwide.
In Los Angeles, for example, residents are technically banned from “non-essential” walking in public spaces, Breitbart notes.
Despite these stringent measures, the state is seeing the highest infection rate of any in the country, SFGate reported.
As of Tuesday, the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that California has 95.3 cases per 100,000 people in the last seven days, down from a recent high of 109.3.
Lockdown fatigue to blame?
The state is also seeing a crush in hospitalizations and record deaths, prompting consternation from public officials.
A recent Politico headline that read, “Locked-down California runs out of reasons for surprising surge,” inspired cries of “I told you so” from lockdown skeptics on Twitter.
Some reason that Californians are exhausted from excessive restrictions, and that the public hypocrisy of government officials such as Newsom, who was recently caught dining out at a luxury restaurant, is compounding the fatigue.
“The public health officials have lost credibility with a huge section of the populace. They’re just tuning them out now,” said Republican Assemblymember Jordan Cunningham (R-Templeton). “The goalposts are moving all the time. … People are fed up with it and they don’t think it makes any sense, and they’re not wrong.”
CA extends lockdowns
On Tuesday, Gov. Newsom extended the state’s latest lockdown, enacted in December, in Southern California and San Joaquin Valley for three more weeks amid stubbornly high hospitalization rates.
The restrictions will lift when hospital capacity rises past 15 percent, officials said.
“We essentially are projecting that the ICU capacity is not improving in Southern California and San Joaquin Valley, and that demand will continue to exceed capacity,” the state’s Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly said Tuesday.
The embattled governor, who is facing a significant recall effort, has pleaded with Californians to remain patient and continue observing restrictions amid the surge.
The post Despite lockdowns, California now has worst coronavirus outbreak in the US first appeared on Conservative Institute.
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