[teejers1]

It must be kept in mind that the reason the State grants such authority to the County Health Department is to prevent local politicians from ignoring real public health threats because their constituents don't want to deal with the reality. It used to be that people with TB got hauled away by the Sheriff all the time at the behest of County Health. Lots of those people really didn't want to go, and lots of County politicians would have backed them if they could have. Having people running around with active TB and doing nothing about it wasn't a good idea, but who wants aunt Fiona hauled off to a TB Hospital? There is a (very good) reason Dr. Cody has the authority she does.

That said, I think it is reasonable to demand an explanation as to the thinking that governs all regulations, such as no fans in the stands. The idea that large gatherings pose a risk is clear. Why certain risks are accepted and others are not bears scrutiny.

Goose, I agree with that logic.

Dr. Cody, or any health official, should need to explain their logic.  Though it is hard here as COVID is still largely unknown to everyone.  That means every decision is based on projections, models or guestimates.  Still, an official should be expected/required to outline why they want to implement a path different than state and CDC guidelines might permit.

It is worth noting that at the state level we have been here before.    In May/June Gavin Newsom was under pressure to open things up.  Elon Musk, Disney, and others were all complaining that CA needed to be more like TX, FL and GA.   Newsom relented and allowed counties to open things up more quickly, but the SF Bay Area counties were slower to open.

Literally weeks later the Southern California counties were seeing very troubling summer surges, the same trends observed in TX, FL and GA, while the SF Bay Area had it relatively easy.  That was the summer when coronaviruses don't fare well.   We are now moving into the fall/winter.  Time to get serious..

Trump wins, Newsom will cave and Dr. Cody will have no cover.  Trump will give us fans in the stands in the way he has given the BigTen their football.

Biden wins, Newsom has backing and will have revised statewide mandates at least as strict as Dr. Cody is currently advocating.  

Chuckle I guess, but it really is that easy IMHO.  The real key for CA policies is Newsom.   Newsom seems to want to do more to fight COVID but is trying to avoid the wrath of POTUS45 given POTUS45 often threatens unrelated funds if he senses disloyalty (see CA fires).

That said, even with the current system we might get to Dr. Cody's approach soon enough since most of the state's biggest counties will turn purple if current trends in other states spreads to CA.   The IHME projections suggest that in a few weeks Dr. Cody's stance won't be the constraint, the constraint will be the expanding COVID case rates turning the urban counties in CA to the purple status.

Okay, I will.

And I know everyone here wants to blame Trump for everything Covid-related and argue that he controls everything.  But the truth is that Cody and Newsom have had WAY more impact on our day-to-day lives in SCC and California and they will continue to have way more of an impact after Biden is elected.  And that's true in every other county and state in the nation.  As it should be, btw, because each county's problems are unique - hell, intra-county things can be dramatically different.

[teejers1]

It must be kept in mind that the reason the State grants such authority to the County Health Department is to prevent local politicians from ignoring real public health threats because their constituents don't want to deal with the reality. It used to be that people with TB got hauled away by the Sheriff all the time at the behest of County Health. Lots of those people really didn't want to go, and lots of County politicians would have backed them if they could have. Having people running around with active TB and doing nothing about it wasn't a good idea, but who wants aunt Fiona hauled off to a TB Hospital? There is a (very good) reason Dr. Cody has the authority she does.

That said, I think it is reasonable to demand an explanation as to the thinking that governs all regulations, such as no fans in the stands. The idea that large gatherings pose a risk is clear. Why certain risks are accepted and others are not bears scrutiny.

Goose, I agree with that logic.

Dr. Cody, or any health official, should need to explain their logic.  Though it is hard here as COVID is still largely unknown to everyone.  That means every decision is based on projections, models or guestimates.  Still, an official should be expected/required to outline why they want to implement a path different than state and CDC guidelines might permit.

It is worth noting that at the state level we have been here before.    In May/June Gavin Newsom was under pressure to open things up.  Elon Musk, Disney, and others were all complaining that CA needed to be more like TX, FL and GA.   Newsom relented and allowed counties to open things up more quickly, but the SF Bay Area counties were slower to open.

Literally weeks later the Southern California counties were seeing very troubling summer surges, the same trends observed in TX, FL and GA, while the SF Bay Area had it relatively easy.  That was the summer when coronaviruses don't fare well.   We are now moving into the fall/winter.  Time to get serious..

Trump wins, Newsom will cave and Dr. Cody will have no cover.  Trump will give us fans in the stands in the way he has given the BigTen their football.

Biden wins, Newsom has backing and will have revised statewide mandates at least as strict as Dr. Cody is currently advocating.  

Chuckle I guess, but it really is that easy IMHO.  The real key for CA policies is Newsom.   Newsom seems to want to do more to fight COVID but is trying to avoid the wrath of POTUS45 given POTUS45 often threatens unrelated funds if he senses disloyalty (see CA fires).

That said, even with the current system we might get to Dr. Cody's approach soon enough since most of the state's biggest counties will turn purple if current trends in other states spreads to CA.   The IHME projections suggest that in a few weeks Dr. Cody's stance won't be the constraint, the constraint will be the expanding COVID case rates turning the urban counties in CA to the purple status.

Okay, I will.

And I know everyone here wants to blame Trump for everything Covid-related and argue that he controls everything.  But the truth is that Cody and Newsom have had WAY more impact on our day-to-day lives in SCC and California and they will continue to have way more of an impact after Biden is elected.  And that's true in every other county and state in the nation.  As it should be, btw, because each county's problems are unique - hell, intra-county things can be dramatically different.