san diego: dialed in: CoViD-19: With Cases Surging California Announces Curfew For Non-Essential Activities | County Commits Sheriff Deputies For Health Order Compliance | Biden Wins Georgia (Again)

Grevy's Zebra at San Diego Zoo (Taken 11.19.2020)

It was a big news day but Nova and I went to the San Diego Zoo again this afternoon, so watching all the briefings and putting this post together went way later than I planned.

Regardless, the big news is that California has issued a 'limited stay at home order' which makes an enforceable move to require all non-essential businesses be closed from 10pm-5am and for people to stay home during that time period. No joke, some reporter asked about house guests and it sounded like it was asking-for-a-friend seeking permission for booty calls. So Secretary Ghaly had a press conference, the County had an unscheduled briefing to announce that sheriffs will be enforcing the health order. Meanwhile Mayor Faulconer has decided to model his life after the Covidiot-In-Chief and has taken to Twitter to mock the Governor, gearing up for his future run for the office. Stay in your lane, Vanilla Ice. You haven't addressed the City in months, so maybe just simmer down and crawl back under your rock.

Besides the Zoo, things have been pretty chill around here. I'm reading Glennon Doyle's Untamed which is *meh* but it's all short stories/blog posts, so it's an easy read to pick up and put down at will. We watched Hateship Loveship on Hulu and it was weird but Kristen Wiig is great at playing weird.

Today's stats, briefing notes, and other news links are all after the jump.

Secretary Ghaly Media Briefing:

Limited Stay-At-Home Order. FAQ.

Most states across the country are facing a wave of cases
Cases in California are growing faster than ever. We are in a surge.
From Nov 1 to Nov 18: LA increased 147%
California COVID-19 Stats:

11,478 New Cases/1,059,267 Total Cases (1.1% increase) 9,665 7-day average
106 New Deaths/18,466 Total Deaths (0.6% increase)
5% 14-day test positivity rate/5.6% 7-day positivity
52% increase in 14-day positivity rate. 11/5 14-day positivity was 3.3%
12% of today's cases will be hospitalized in 2-3 weeks
63.6% increase in hospitalizations over last 14 days
40.5% increase in ICU hospitalizations
Steep Rise in Daily Case Numbers 51% Increase in period from 11/1-11/7

Causes of rapid case increases:

No single culprit: cold weather, more mixing, more opening, more travel
Levels are higher across the state
Normal activities are higher risk than just a month ago
Today's actions are to target higher risk activities

High Risk Activity

Activities where it is difficult to mask the whole time (i.e. eating and drinking)
Activities where you see people you haven't seen recently (i.e. people outside your household)
Activities where it is difficult to keep your distance (i.e. board games, break rooms)
Activities of a longer duration
Activities that don't allow for plenty of fresh air to circulate

Likelihood of Exposure x Duration of Exposure
Mask + 6 feet of distance
New State Approach to avoid further restrictions:

Limited Stay-At-Home Order/Curfew

Counties in purple tier
Home at 10pm-5am
Effective November 21- December 21

What you can still do outside of curfew hours:

Grocery or drug stores
Walk your dog
Get takeout from a restaurant

Why now?

Keep highest risk safe
Keep essential workers safe
Stop the surge faster and avoid more severe actions/restrictions
To protect our hospital capacity so those who need care can get it
Our early stay-at-home order kept state ahead of the curve

We've learned a lot since March:

Masks protect the wearer and people around us
Moving outdoors significantly reduces risk of exposure and transmission
Even asymptomatic people are spreading the virus
Roughly 12% of today's cases will be hospitalized in 2-3 weeks in the state

Media Questions:

Education is the starting point. State has enforcement tools if necessary.
Non-essential business sectors must stop all operations from 10am-5pm. Takeout/delivery is still allowed.
Essential services are still allowed. Exempt from curfew.
Blueprint has helped slow things down, but emergency brake function is part of the design.
Curfew curbs mixed household night gatherings. I really want to hear Dr. Ghaly just say they're applying a curfew because "the freaks come out at night."
State has created additive measures if needed.
Holidays are especially concerning, state will see exacerbated cases and further strain on hospital beds and all the frontline workers who work them if people don't abide by recommendations
Schools that are doing in-person learning may continue doing so. Creating cohorts, masking, distance, improving ventilation, and strong T3 strategy has mitigated risk in schools.
I think a reporter just basically asked if booty calls can sleep over or if they have to go home by 10pm.
Limited stay-at-home is enforceable by law enforcement/counties but not intended for people to be pulled over for.

San Diego County Emergency Media Briefing:

Coronavirus is surging. A runaway train across the nation, state, and county.
Enhanced enforcement across the county with Sheriffs and compliance teams.

Primary action will be education and voluntary compliance
Will enforce with citations when necessary
City Attorney and District Attorney will be prosecuting violations

Assigning Deputy CA and Deputy DA to

Non-essential curfew will be enforced throughout the county.
Enforcement:

Complaint from public, county will investigate
Issue cease and desist by deputy and enforcement team
If entity doesn't comply, will be issued citations
City Attorney or District Attorney will follow up on citations

Report violations SafeReopeningComplianceTeam@sdcounty.ca.gov or call 858.694.2400

Significant increase in cases and hospitalizations. Growth is exponential.
Hospitalizations have doubled in the past 2 weeks.
People who are complying pay the price for people who are not.
52 cease and desist orders have been issued this week.
Sheriff Bill Gore (read prior beefs between the Board and Sheriff VOSD 11.10.2020)

Sheriff's Department is making full-time deputies available to COVID compliance team (4 2-person teams)
Will work in all 18 cities and unincorporated areas
Cooperation from police departments include Oceanside, Carlsbad, Chula Vista, Coronado.
Will seek to get voluntary compliance or will issue citations and/or write reports to give to City Attorney or District Attorney
"Wear those damn masks out there!"

Media Questions:

Compliance team 1st step is to call or 'pay a visit.' Would rather not interject law enforcement, but after cease-and-desist will issue and closure orders.
159 county citations have been issued.
Sheriffs will work in all parts of county, regardless of individual cities' cooperation
Curfew will be until we get out of "blue tier"
County has always had the authority to assist with cease and desist orders but sought cooperation from local police departments. With numbers so dangerously high, Sheriff deputies will work in all jurisdictions whether or not their local police departments comply.
Thanksgiving Guidance has been issued. "Small. Short. Safe."
Vaccines: We don't know. We don't know which vaccine, when it will roll out, how many we'll get. County will be subject to State's guidance
Compliance has been emphasized all along. It is now increasing because of surge in cases. Cases are rising in all sectors.

State Data:

922 New Cases/67,243 Total Cases
12 Deaths/945 Total Deaths
12.1 cases/100k population (Based on week ending 11/10, Assessed on 11/16. Unadjusted Case Rate Using Linear Adjustment)
2.6% Test Positivity (Based on week ending 11/10, Assessed on 11/16)
7.2% Health Equity Positivity (Based on week ending 11/10, Assessed on 11/16)

County Data:

County Stepping Up Health Order Enforcement - County News Center
899 New Cases/68,140 Total Cases
7 New Daily Deaths/952 Total Deaths
7% Daily Test Positivity/5.4% (7-day avg after 7-day lag)/4.9% Test Positivity (14-day average)
10.7 cases/100k population (Based on week ending 11/10, Assessed on 11/16. Unadjusted case rate per 100,000 excluding prisons.)
Case Investigation is 96%
Increasing Hospitalizations 16%
5 New/36 Community Outbreaks (7-day)