By Miah Stringer
Staff Writer
Currently, the amount of deaths resulting from COVID-19 cases in California are skyrocketing within the past month. Despite some L.A. county hospitals operating at triple it’s capacity, California officials are reopening California due to cases mildly declining over the past 2 weeks. Governor Gavin Newsom lifted the California stay-at-home order due to the prediction that cases will continue to decline. However, many are accusing that this decision was driven by politics more than science. Although it’s safe to say that the coronavirus will be a problem for the foreseeable future, for many small businesses, this news is good news. Restaurants will be able to hold outdoor dining and businesses will be able to reopen, depending on county restrictions.
For schools, where the majority in California have been closed for almost a year, there is a lot of speculation whether reopening is safe right now. Now, counties are reopening based on the color-coded tiers of restriction, meaning that the reopening will depend on the prevalence of the virus within the county. Newsom has made it a priority to get children on campus this year, but without the vaccine, many teachers are wary of returning to school. The California Teachers Association wrote a letter to Newsom this Wednesday, stating that “Vaccines for employees are a key element to safe in-person school reopening.” At the current rate of vaccination, it could potentially be months before all teachers receive a shot. In a conversation with the Association of California School Administrators, Newsom responds to concerns saying, “If we wait for the perfect, we might as well just pack it up and just be honest with folks that we’re not going to open for in-person instruction this school year.”
Going forward, it’s clear that Newsom plans on reopening as soon as possible. While Newsom has kept up a relatively high approval rating throughout the pandemic, he will have to make large efforts to ensure that moving forward with California reopening will be done safely in order to keep up his approval ratings.