by Aydn Morris

After 9 months of quarantining, there is still an increasing number of COVID-19 cases, leaving California officials reeling as they try to slow the spread and flatten the curve.

For the past 9 months Covid 19 has affected many peoples lives. Most people believed that this virus would end in about a month or two, but they never expected it to go for this long. A majority of people around the world are tired of seeing family members die or get infected by the virus and just want it to stop so they can get back to the way things were before. 

California is one of the states with the highest number of cases and increasing percentages of cases and deaths due to Coronavirus. For the past couple of weeks, California has been giving residents light stay at home orders to try and decrease the cases and deaths.

The stay at home order is where residents are expected to stay at home unless of an emergency, in need of essential services or are essential workers. The stay at home order is is just a lighter version of the lockdown where a few places are still open but only a small amount of people are allowed. 

The stay at home order will close down many public places such as restaurants, personal grooming services, bars, movie theaters, museums and casinos.

Places that are open will be outdoor recreational facilities, hotels, places of worship (which will have to be held outside), professional sports and entertainment production without live audiences and non-urgent medical and dental care. For grocery stores that are open, they have to limit their store capacity down to 20%. Outdoor recreational facilities include beaches, golf courses, and parks. All of these places will require people to masked, socially distanced and in limited capacity. 

According to KTLA5 News, “the new restrictions will go into effect in Southern California at 11:59 p.m. Sunday and last for at least three weeks. The region includes the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego and is home to about 24 million people, almost half of the state’s population. The order was also put in effect for the San Joaquin Valley in central California.”

This will outrage half of California’s population especially since it is the Holiday season, with kids being out of school on their winter break, which most likely puts an end to any plans of traveling to families houses and it will also be harder for people to finish Christmas shopping. 

According to Deadline, L.A. County Sheriff Alex Villanueva sent mixed messages this week as the orders were issued. “I want to stay away from businesses that are trying to comply the best they can. They bent over backwards to modify their entire operation to conform to these current health orders,” he continued, “and then they have the rug yanked out from under them, that’s a disservice. I don’t want to make their lives any more miserable.”

Obviously, it’s difficult for leaders to make these decisions because they all understand how much this is affecting peoples businesses and lives. Furthermore, it also furthers gridlock between politicians and local law enforcement officers, as differing opinions have led to a lack of enforcing restrictions in California and abroad.

Most of us want to get back to the way things were before COVID-19 and California is trying its best to do so.

All we can do as California Citizens is just have to have hope, make the most out of what we have, wear masks, and socially distance.