Because some locals in Newport Beach continue to minimize and criticize the Coronavirus response in California, I suggest they start reading the larger newspapers and other scientific sources that are readily made available online.
As I look around our city and see the lack of social distancing and lack of serious concern for the Coronavirus, I have become very fearful for our future.
Those fears were somewhat confirmed on Wednesday, June 3 as I read the following on the front page of the LA Times, “California braces for second wave of the Coronavirus.”
In addition to the reason stated, there are two additional factors: the mass protests and re-openings.
New guidelines issued by the Orange Health Officer on May 28 Included several guidelines for businesses as well as the stipulation that all OC residents “shall wear a cloth face mask when they are not able to maintain at least six feet of physical distance from another person.”
All these rules sound hopeful, but they are only as good as the paper they are written on, if they are based on voluntary compliance. Where is the enforcement?
One letter writer in the Times perhaps captures best the reasoning for non-compliance. It is not necessarily selfishness but the fact that most deaths “have been hidden from view.” Because many of us know no one who has caught or died from the Coronavirus, it is difficult for us to relate.
Unfortunately, unless we change our ways and take this virus seriously, that possibility will become a reality.
Lynn Lorenz / Newport Beach
