by Bill Whalen
Tuesday, May 5, 2020
The word that defines California for the next several weeks: “stage.”
That’s because the Golden State’s governor, Gavin Newsom, has determined four stages in returning California to its pre-coronavirus existence.
Stage One, where California is at present: citizens staying at home in hopes of flattening the virus’s curve.
Stage Two, which Newsom suggested last week may begin “days, not weeks, ahead”: lifting restrictions on lower-risk retail and manufacturing businesses, as well as child-care centers.
Stage Three, which Newsom’s indicated is “months, not weeks, away”: resuming business where closer contact is the norm—gyms, spas, nail salons, in-person religious services.
Finally, Stage Four: allowing large-scale public venues such as sporting events, concerts, and conventions—that’s provided a vaccine has come along or effective treatment for the virus is available (in Newsomspeak: “reopening the highest-risk parts of our economy . . . once therapeutics have been developed”).
One can look at this as progress—albeit a slow advance that’s not playing well in certain California communities (areas where beaches have been closed and rural stretches that have experienced little in the way of coronavirus cases).
One can also view the move from stage to stage with frustration, as it is a moving target: Newsom’s “weeks” of waiting for Phase Two becoming “days”—perhaps not coincidentally, at the same time protestors descended upon the State Capitol, resulting in 32 arrests.
One can also look at this not so much as “stages” but as “hurdles,” with Newsom now having to navigate several aggrieved (and powerful) obstacles in his way.
That would include:
Public schools. You could see this coming the moment Newsom suggested last week that the next public school year could begin as soon as July. Here’s one teachers’-union-activist’s response: “It’s insane. It’s not safe to go back in July. Can you imagine being with 40 kids in a room that’s 20 [feet] by 20 [feet]?”
Well south of Sacramento, the superintendent of Los Angeles’s public school system struck a note not so much defiant as it was skeptical:
“Reopening schools will be a gradual process,” said Los Angeles Unified School District chief Austin Beutner, “with a schedule that may be different.” But in order to start the school year, Beutner claimed, “health authorities have to solve some very real issues.” Translation: before classes resume, widespread testing and contact tracing will have to be in effect.
How much of a problem does Newsom have with the education establishment?
