Los Angeles. Love/Hate Relationship. SPECIAL SERIES: A Tale of Two Cities. 2021. Part 10. California shines in vaccinations but seems to fear shedding the mask.

According to Johns Hopkins University, as of this writing on June 17 2021, California has fully vaccinated 44.02% of its population. In comparison, JHU shows Georgia at only 33.5%. Beckers Hospital Review, a source I only found this evening in an internet search, shows California ranked at #18 and Georgia at #46. Safe to say, not even close. Hopefully you read my last post, As California lifts restrictions, some numbers. Whereas I have have strong convictions that while Georgia was a bit loose in its rules and regulations, California was destructively overly imposing on our lives. I spent the month of December in Georgia. My husband was to join me for Christmas but needed surgery for stones in his bladder which took almost 3 months to schedule in LA because of not only being so full from COVID patients, but running out of oxygen, something you hear of in third world countries like India. At the same time, our family Christmas was canceled in Atlanta because my oldest nephew had tested positive with COVID so my sister and family were quarantined.

Go back and read this series from the beginning, starting at A Tale of Two Cities. Part 1. This has been an unfathomable time for all of us. Families, relationships have been challenged in unprecedented ways. No matter how close you are to your loved ones, you aren't meant to spend 24/7 with them in a confined space with limited options for activity, without interaction with others for weeks, months on end. While already super giant businesses like Amazon and Walmart thrived through COVID, many other businesses struggled or didn't survive. As I mentioned in earlier posts in this series, this is particularly noticeable in Los Angeles - compared to Atlanta - where certain businesses, like bars, have been closed for over a year. No state or city that I am aware of in the US has been as restrictive throughout the pandemic as California and Los Angeles County where there is pride in being first to close and last to re-open. Even now, many seem very resistant to giving up their masks. We live above Ralphs (Kroger) on 9th Street in DTLA. I went into the store on the morning of the 15th and there was only one other person who walked in without a mask and he was perplexed and debating whether or not he should put it on looking around at everyone else. My husband reported much the same in visits over the next 2 days. As recently as this Saturday, June 19th, I saw a couple running in Grand Hope Park not only more than 6 feet from each other but with nobody within hundreds of feet wearing masks. This is not only uncomfortable, it is unhealthy. If you think back to guidance for months now, it has been to increase circulation of outdoor air to reduce risk. Further, especially when exercising, you need the ability to breathe more, not be obstructed. 

California prides itself, rightfully so, on being a leader. So goes California, so goes the country. In the case of COVID-19, we have largely been exactly the opposite. We have been been more restrictive, behind the curve, and had dismal results on all fronts other than I will give Gov. Newsom great credit on his ability to buy PPE but that is really because we are the 5th largest economy in the world and have tremendous buying power. States like Maryland and Illinois have stories that are far more clever in some of their purchases. Maryland's Governor, Larry Hogan, asked his South Korean born wife to negotiate a deal to buy 500,000 tests early on in the pandemic. Governor Pritzker of Illinois chartered planes to bring back PPE from China to make sure it came directly to Illinois and was not delayed or confiscated at customs to become part of the Federal stockpile. 

I imagine each day people will become more comfortable, more businesses that still have mask mandates will let them go and things will continue to become more like 2019 albeit perhaps a bit safer and better. We can only hope we have learned some things from this unfathomable experience.

This chart is from the CDC at the end of April

CDC loosens guidelines on outdoor activities

Governor Hogan taps wife to negotiate with South Korea for testing kits

Illinois charters planes

Pritzker not letting PPE part of Federal stockpile