They had their chance, and they blew it.
That appears to be the stance of California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who is about to issue an order to close all state beaches starting Friday, according to a memo cited by CNN.
“We wanted to give all of our members a heads up about this in order to provide time for you to plan for any situations you might expect as a result, knowing each community has its own dynamics,” the widely circulated memo said, blaming the overcrowding of beaches last weekend.
Here’s the full memo:
Newport Beach in Orange County, where temperatures were on the rise, reportedly saw some 90,000 beachgoers over the two-day period despite the state’s stay-at-home orders.
The announcement from Newsom shouldn’t come as much of a surprise, considering what he had to say about the situation at a press conference earlier in the week.
“Those images are an example of what not to see, people, what not to do if we’re going to make the meaningful progress that we’ve made in the last few weeks extend into the next number of weeks,” Newsom said on Monday. “This virus doesn’t take the weekends off.”
The closure didn’t sit well with Orange County Supervisor Don Wagner, who said late Wednesday that the governor’s decision is “not wise” even though he has the authority to do so.
“Medical professionals tell us the importance of fresh air and sunlight in fighting infectious diseases, including mental health benefits,” Wagner wrote in a statement to the Associated Press. “Moreover, Orange County citizens have been cooperative with Calif. state and county restrictions thus far. I fear that this overreaction from the state will undermine that cooperative attitude and our collective efforts to fight the disease, based on the best available medical information.”
Wagner wasn’t the only critic — Twitter was filled with them, mostly from one side of the aisle:
Meanwhile, the U.S., with 1.04 million, continues to build on the highest coronavirus case toll in the world, with the highest number of deaths at 60,999, according to Johns Hopkins University.
