Los Angeles. Love/Hate Relationship. SPECIAL SERIES: A Tale of Two Cities. 2021. Part 9. As California lifts restrictions, some numbers.

 

This is written on the morning of June 15, 2021, the day California is lifting restrictions.

According to the New York Times, which has been tracking with at least daily updates throughout the pandemic, as of 6/14/2021, California has had 3,803,531 cases or 9,626 per 100,000 residents. According to the US Census Bureau, as of April 1, 2020, the population of the Golden state is 39,538,223. Based on these numbers, roughly 10.4% of the state's population had a positive Covid-19 test. Some argue how cases are counted, whether someone who has more than one positive Covid-19 test is being counted more than once, but then again, there are those laying on their death bed with Covid-19 insisting it does not exist. This resulted in 63,149 deaths or 160 per 100,000 people. You would think it's harder to argue deaths, though as I just mentioned above, not only do some people deny COVID really exists, but some say things like "well they had a heart condition, had cancer..." The changing circumstance is they contracted COVID and died!

Los Angeles County is the most populous county in the United States. So large, in fact, that its population is greater than over 40 US states at 9,818,605. It is arguably the most diverse place in America, if not the world. It also has the nation's greatest affordable housing crisis and largest homeless pandemic. I won't spend much time digging deeper on those topics for this piece other than to say there is little doubt that these factors contributed to the spread of COVID-19 in LA. However that isn't an excuse; they are problems that need to be resolved. Los Angeles has had 1,247,103 positive COVID-19 cases or 12,422 per 100,000 residents. There have been 24,433 deaths or 243 per 100,000 residents. 

Georgia has had 1,104,417 cases or 10,357 per 100,000. The Peachtree State is coming in with an April 1, 2020 population of 9,687,653. This represents roughly 8.77% of the population receiving a positive COVID-19 test.  Census data for both LA County and Georgia can be somewhat under-counted, but it is safe to say that Georgia has a population roughly the same size as LA County and is by no means is a small state. Using Fulton and DeKalb County to represent Atlanta (Georgia is made up of 159 counties in total but the city of Atlanta is comprised in these 2 counties), Fulton County has had 99,058 cases or 9,311 per 100,000 residents. DeKalb County has had 67,422 cases or 8,880 per 100,000 residents. Both of these numbers are notably lower than LA County. Fulton County has lost 1,450 members of its community or 136 per 100,000, DeKalb County 1,060 or 140 per 100,000. These numbers are also significantly lower than Los Angeles County. 

I spent the month of December in Atlanta. Georgia did not have a statewide mask mandate, which I think was foolish. It did, however, have many other restrictions in place and schools made their own decisions. My sister's kids did go to school in Forsyth county in an affluent suburb north of Atlanta. They also all tested positive at one point for COVID-19, thankfully only one was minorly sick for a couple days. They had to constantly ask if one kid in their class tested positive, then everybody was sent home to quarantine. It wasn't a very efficient system, I admit. Students did also have the option of online-only instruction. My sister felt this was the best option and overall it played out well. Other school systems, including some of the largest, were not open for classroom instruction for much of the year. In the core of Atlanta Metro everyone wore masks everywhere inside. I believe social distancing at tables in restaurants, at least until some time in the spring, was a state mandate. But, we could eat in restaurants. I could go to a bar. I could work out in a gym and remove my mask while exercising being asked to keep it on otherwise. I could use a locker room. Then I returned to Los Angeles and it was like I was turning myself in for a prison term. If you haven't yet, read back to the beginning of this blog forward: Tales of Two Cities. Part 1. Everything was closed in LA, but COVID-19 was spreading like wildfire. Each time I returned to Atlanta, life was getting closer to normal whereas we are making that leap just today. 

The unemployment rate in Georgia in January 2021 was 5.1%, in California it was 9%. In Atlanta Metro in January 2021 it was also 5.1 and in Los Angeles 12.7%. As of April 2021, Georgia's unemployment rate is 4.3 and Atlanta metro is 3.9% whereas California is at 8.3% and Los Angeles 11%. Looking back before COVID-19, in January 2020, California had an unemployment rate of 4.2% and Los Angeles of 4.9%. Georgia was at 3.3% and Atlanta at 3.4%, so while it seems Georgia has had a stronger job market even prior to the pandemic, there is a far greater disparity now. I still see a lot of boarded up businesses in Downtown LA, some going back to the "celebrations" after the Lakers' and Dodgers' wins last year. Some we don't know if they are coming back, many others clearly aren't with for lease signs on them. I can't recall a boarded up building in Atlanta Midtown to Buckhead, where there were protests (I don't know of any great wins) last year. There are businesses lost, but nothing like here. They haven't been shut down for a year and more depending on the type of business. 

Despite Georgia going "blue" this past election, there are a lot more COVID deniers, anti-vaxxers and non-conformers to mask wearing than in California. Yet, Georgia has fared better overall. Mind you, almost 2/3 of the population is in Atlanta and if you read this series I talk about how there is Atlanta and there is Georgia. A few have said to me that "without Atlanta, Georgia would be Alabama."

Census stats for Part 9. A Tale of Two Cities

Bureau of Labor statistics