Written by Hannah Schmidtler
California residents have been asked to stay home under the most recent shutdown order. As a result of ongoing shutdowns, unemployment, depression, addiction, and many more troubling side effects are on the rise. Additionally, countless businesses across the state have permanently closed due to financial hardship. And that financial hardship is directly caused by the statewide COVID-19 restrictions.
Some California politicians have had enough and are heading to the state capital to protest the lockdown. Sacramento Supervisor Sue Frost, Riverside Supervisor Jeff Hewitt, and Orange Supervisor Don Wagner announced the protest after having their first Reopen Cal Conference.
Supervisor Frost explains the purpose of the Reopen Cal Conference stating, “The whole idea of the conference, the whole goal of the conference is going to be to inform local policymakers on everything we can learn about COVID and the impacts on the lockdowns from COVID. The idea is so we can make informed decisions and try to figure out how to open California quickly and safely.”
Protest leaders want to be clear that they believe Covid is real, but argue that the shutdown effects must be part of the discussion on reopening. Covid shutdowns have closed 85% of Sacramento bars and restaurants, dimming a once lively city, and this is the case in far too many California cities
A reopening may be coming sooner than we think, however. As we approach the inauguration day of President-elect Joe Biden, democratic leaders are becoming more open to reopening their economies, despite being staunchly opposed when President trump urged them to do so. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo tweeted in support of reopening this week, saying “the cost (of staying closed) is too high.”
We simply cannot stay closed until the vaccine hits critical mass. The cost is too high. We will have nothing left to open. We must reopen the economy, but we must do it smartly and safely.#SOTS2021
— Archive: Governor Andrew Cuomo (@NYGovCuomo) January 11, 2021
