The Morning Briefing: If Lockdowns Work Why Is California a Global COVID-19 Hotspot?

The Mother of All Lockdown Failures

Happy week before Christmas Friday, dear Kruiser Morning Briefing friends. My favorite vegetarian food is beef brisket.

Whilst wrapping up my evening walk — a new habit that I highly recommend — last night I received a call from my mother. She called to tell me that I should scrap the tentative plans I had to go to Los Angeles at the end of the month to rendezvous with my daughter while she’s there for a few days. The Golden State is currently overwhelmed by COVID-19, apparently, and the hospital situation there is getting a little…full.

It’s heartwarming that my mother still worries about me. Given many of the choices that I make it’s more than understandable.

Honestly, one of the greatest things that I do for my mental health these days is avoiding paying attention to news about California. I still love the state, and reading news of the political lunacy there just depresses me. I spend a lot of time trying to break through the Stockholm Syndrome my California friends are suffering from so I can talk them into leaving.

Because of my lack of attention to the news from the coast, I was unaware of the state of the state’s current pandemic woes.

It would seem that things are escalating on that front.

SFGATE.com:

California – the country’s largest and richest state – is the new epicenter of America’s coronavirus crisis, with unprecedented surges of seriously infected patients threatening to overwhelm hospitals and overflow morgues.

The state is reporting unnerving numbers: California has set nationwide records for new cases again and again in the past week – most recently on Wednesday, when it posted more than 41,000 infections. If California were a country, it would be among the world leaders in new covid-19 cases, ahead of India, Germany and Britain.

The number of available beds in intensive care units is plummeting. In the San Joaquin Valley, hospitals ran out over the weekend, resorting to “surge capacity.” And in Southern California, a region that includes Los Angeles and San Diego, ICU capacity dipped to just 0.5% Wednesday.

“I want to be very clear: our hospitals are under siege and our model shows no end in sight,” Christina Ghaly, director of LA County’s Department of Health Services, said at a dire news briefing that day.

My question is this: How in the hell is California a COVID nightmare when the state has been one of the most draconian with lockdowns and mask rules? I mean, haven’t they been doing all of the things that are supposed to keep the virus at bay over there?

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis seemed to be wondering along the same lines while responding to a reporter recently:

DeSantis sparred with a WPTV reporter Michael Williams, who pressed him on why he hasn’t enforced a mask mandate.

“What are the facts?” DeSantis replied, before providing them.

“We’re in the bottom 10 states for per capita cases,” DeSantis noted. “And this is with being open for months and months. So the question is why are cases exploding in California, why are hospitalizations exploding in other parts of the country, particularly states that have said they’ve done all these great restrictions and mandates. The mandates I don’t think have been effective.”

There are two great tragedies that will forever be the legacy of this pandemic: the loss of lives, of course, and the loss of livelihoods brought about by lockdowns that may not have even helped.

If any of what the petty tyrants have been peddling about masks and staying at home were true, then California would be one of the safest places on Earth right now.

Instead, it’s just a tragic place dealing with a rapidly growing population of people who are both sick and broke, thanks to all the science and helping.

It’s almost as if maybe we shouldn’t trust the government.

Never Trump Weakling Randomly Harassing a Married Mother of 4

Physical and intellectual impotence make the low-T Bulwarkian betas lash out at women like this. https://t.co/lgd79bdEvq

— SFK (@stephenkruiser) December 18, 2020

Probably a Biden Voter

LOOK OUT: A woman was trying to clear snow off of her roof in New York when she accidentally knocked it all down — right on top of her. 😱 pic.twitter.com/J6L4OpKDJ6

— CBS News (@CBSNews) December 18, 2020

Smells Like Onion

Remote-Learning Student Praying It Snows Enough To Bring Down Internet Lines To Cancel School https://t.co/rCr7uhe707 pic.twitter.com/9gwRnLUsbo

— The Onion (@TheOnion) December 17, 2020

The Kruiser Kabana

pic.twitter.com/Sgm4s8Ifvl

— Perfectly capture (@Perfectlycaptre) December 13, 2020

I think Poo-Pourri is a greater modern development than the internet.

___

Kruiser on Parler
Kruiser on MeWe
Kruiser on Twitter
Kruiser on Facebook
PJ Media Senior Columnist and Associate Editor Stephen Kruiser is the author of “Don’t Let the Hippies Shower” and “Straight Outta Feelings: Political Zen in the Age of Outrage,” both of which address serious subjects in a humorous way. Monday through Friday he edits PJ Media’s “Morning Briefing.” His columns appear twice a week.