Don't Go to Superbowl Parties, County Health Department Begs, Claiming Such Gatherings Bring Death

The Los County Department of Public Health today begs residents to avoid gathering with people outside their immediate household to watch the Superbowl this weekend. This week, the county surpassed 17,000 deaths from Covid-19 since the beginning of tallies of cases of the disease imported from China. So far, 1.129 million people in the county - over 10 percent - have been confirmed to have contracted the disease. Vaccinations have begun for first responders, health care workers, and residents over 65, but most county residents will have to wait weeks, if not months, to receive a vaccine. The numbers seem to point toward those at the lower end of priority eventually contracting disease, particularly as more cases of the COVID-19 Variant B.1.1.7, the more infectious strain from the UK, are found in the county. This eventuality calls into question the nearly year-long lockdown in the county, destroying thousands of businesses and putting tens of thousands out of work. The policy of locking all citizens in their homes and out of their workplaces regardless of their potential for ill effects from COVID-19 has obviously been ill-advised, in vain, and disastrous.

The Health Department claims that after every holiday when people have gathered together, against public recommendations, there has been a corresponding uptick in cases and consequent deaths. Of course, there have been surges that have had no correlation to holidays, as well. At one at the same time, the county has blamed residents for not following orders and causing surges and has praised residents for following orders and loosened restrictions. The most recent loosening of restrictions, at the end of January, once again allowing outdoor dining, had zero relationship to any metric that might indicate a significant decrease in infections, hospitalizations, or deaths. All of these indicators were higher when the restrictions were recently lowered than when they'd been imposed in the first place.

Governor Gavin Newsom is facing a possible recall election with over a million signatures gathered in support of an election to replace him. So far, no county official, including Barbara Ferrer, PhD, MPH, MEd, Director of Public Health, has faced any type of repercussion for the deleterious and obviously ineffective long-term lockdown orders.