[Genuine Realist]

Hey lex, you shouldn't go see your friends because we're in an uncontrolled pandemic. Just because you don't want to hear it doesn't mean it's not good advice.

Hey dabigv - I’m not seeing my friends.  You apparently miss my point.  But I do appreciate the patronizing comment.

I think the present numbers are sufficiently grave to justify fairly severe restrictions. But to think that all this is purely science is nonsense.

Looking back a few months, Santa Clara County and San Mateo were in roughly similar positions. San Mateo permitted the movie theaters to re-open, subject to some restrictions on attendance, masking, etc. Santa Clara County also permitted reopening, but forbade food and beverage sales, which effectively meant no reopening.

And what effect did the greater severity have? None at all, as far as I know. There was no significant difference between case levels in the counties when levels were declining, and the spike has hit both of them roughly equivalently.

Both health officers have access to the same info, and both seem professionally competent. The difference in regulations isn't based on science, but on different personal 'feel' about the interaction between the pandemic threat and the need to keep larger society intact, to the extent possible.

And everyone knows this, that value judgments are in play. It is disingenuous in the extreme to say that they are not.

[Genuine Realist]

Hey lex, you shouldn't go see your friends because we're in an uncontrolled pandemic. Just because you don't want to hear it doesn't mean it's not good advice.

Hey dabigv - I’m not seeing my friends.  You apparently miss my point.  But I do appreciate the patronizing comment.

I think the present numbers are sufficiently grave to justify fairly severe restrictions. But to think that all this is purely science is nonsense.

Looking back a few months, Santa Clara County and San Mateo were in roughly similar positions. San Mateo permitted the movie theaters to re-open, subject to some restrictions on attendance, masking, etc. Santa Clara County also permitted reopening, but forbade food and beverage sales, which effectively meant no reopening.

And what effect did the greater severity have? None at all, as far as I know. There was no significant difference between case levels in the counties when levels were declining, and the spike has hit both of them roughly equivalently.

Both health officers have access to the same info, and both seem professionally competent. The difference in regulations isn't based on science, but on different personal 'feel' about the interaction between the pandemic threat and the need to keep larger society intact, to the extent possible.

And everyone knows this, that value judgments are in play. It is disingenuous in the extreme to say that they are not.