My last entry from the American quarantine was supposed to be my last covid19 diary. I was wrong. Some time ago the “good” news came – the average of positive tests dropped from about 9,000 to about 7,000, but later it turned out that these better results were caused by a technical failure that the Governor of California himself did not even know about. The state secretary of public health, incidentally, the first Latina woman to hold the position, resigned after the confusion. It is unclear why she resigned.
Now maybe it’s a little better again; the degree of “positivity” of the tests is dropping, but after all, we still have a lot of new cases and deaths. Although some reject masks and distancing, life is very far from pre-covid normality.
On top of this, huge heat wave hit along with electrical storms and more fires. We’ve had a recommendation to save electricity since yesterday.
We have recently returned from a visiting my husband’s Father, who lives in Southern California. It was great. Warm ocean, fun in the waves, beach, small crabs, beautiful à la European park – very conducive to scooters and nice walks. We watched ducks and even saw a turtle swimming in the pond. Great summer August weather, too much ice cream, days spent with Dean’s dad – all this gave us a lot of relaxation and increased optimism.
The summer mood spreads too much to the people of Southern California. People hardly wear masks, they meet in groups, they do not want to accept the changing world. I saw a lot of parties, people without masks. There is a belief that no masks need to be worn outside because UV rays kill the virus. Inside, people wore masks. It is not surprising that there is support for Trump in that area as well.
I read a story about a Health Officer from Orange County (usually Republican), who received death threats because she wanted to impose stricter mask orders! Eventually she resigned. Things are different here like night and day. In anti-Trump Berkeley I often have a situation where people go to extreme lengths to stay apart, even while wearing masks. In Southern California, or rather people mock others for wearing a mask. Unfortunately, not everyone in Berkeley is on the lookout either, but in general the situation does not seem to be dire. However, the city is very, very conservative in easing the restrictions.
We only saw Dean’s dad outside the house, we walked together towards the ocean. Róża and Maja were very pleased that they could see him and could not stand him only a few times and ran to hug him for a moment.
On the way back, during the drive through the main California Valley, the temperature outside even reached 40 degrees. It was not without fast food and fast drinks from the drive-through. We stopped at the famous Andersens Pea Soup restaurant (ate outside of course).
We also managed two trips to nearby Monterey and the surrounding area. There, almost everyone wore masks, also outside and very often on the beach. Maybe not always on the face, but at least in a prominent place, this mask was visible and ready to use. We even risked staying in a hotel (mainly because of the children’s pool). The rooms were not cleaned to reduce the risk of contamination. We subsisted on take-out. We did find a Japanese restaurant called Sushi Heaven with a small, discreet patio and delicious food – unfortunately the food is only served in take-out boxes.
Another positive of these escapades – a visit to a beautician. In Berkeley, all salons have been closed since March, but in Napa, for example, some salons have opened their services – only outside.
Not everyone likes such trips outside the city (Berkeley still has the doctrine – shelter in place order – it’s safest at home). For example, locals in the region of the hugely popular Lake Tahoe protested against the escapades of non-masked tourists.
I couldn’t sit still at home, I also had to fill the void after our canceled flights to Poland. I’m glad we took the risk. We wore masks, we washed our hands, we didn’t go crazy. On the beach, we kept our distance from others.
And now around the corner, the end of summer holidays and the beginning of Róża’s virtual new school. A new entry from the virtual-school-pandemic front is coming soon.
Hope you had a great vacation too.
p.s. Just the same as after the last entry was written, after a short time the city changed the Heath Order in June and allowed to meet in so-called social bubbles and even allowed the opening childcares for also children of non-essential workers, and now, after I published this post, Berkeley and the entire Alameda County finally allowed the opening of spa and hairdressing services – but only outside. It is a step forward, although unfortunately not all salons will still be able to open.