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SFGATE: A puzzling spike in Calif. coronavirus cases amid reopening

A puzzling spike in Calif. coronavirus cases amid reopening
Published on June 22, 2020 at 02:21AM by Scott Wilson, The Washington Post

SANTA ROSA, Calif. - California is experiencing a sharp climb in new coronavirus cases just weeks into a gradual economic reopening, filling hospital beds and intensive care units in an uneven surge that many public health officers predicted months ago.

Last week, Arizona, Florida, Texas and at least seven other states reported their highest weekly infection-rate averages. But there is little sign that states are reconsidering politically popular decisions to open the economy. In parts of California, where more than 5,000 people have died of the virus, people will be allowed to see movies in theaters this weekend for the first time since the stay-home orders began in early March.

The ebbs and flows of the virus here have changed frequently from region to region in recent months. Some rural counties have seen their infection rates flatten, while others are reporting record highs. The inconsistencies have created a patchwork of public health rules, now governing a patchwork economy that happens to be the fifth-largest in the world.

"We're still in the swamp," said Sonoma County Supervisor James Gore in an interview. "And as a result, it is very hard to get people to look up and not see a lot of uncertainty in the direction we are heading."

The rise is particularly puzzling - and polarizing - here in the usually come-for-fun upper reaches of the Bay Area.

Early, aggressive government stay-home orders made public health officers from Silicon Valley to wine country household names as coronavirus infection rates stayed low relative to the East Coast. Science-based decisions, for a time, appeared to win the argument over those worried foremost about the death of the California economy.

But Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, who extended the stay-home order statewide in early March, has declared that there is no turning back...

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