By Breanna Fierro
California cut it close and aims for a fully open economy June 15.
After almost a year, the COVID-19 pandemic made its way through destroying the lives and businesses of others. California is now planning on lifting most of its COVID-19 restrictions and fully opening its economy June 15. The recent distributions in vaccines and how short of a time span it is all being conducted in makes it seem skeptical due to how safe and reliable the option could possibly be.
We are one of the few states left that are taking serious precautions in returning back to our now semi-normal life.
Officials have stated California will fully open its economy under two criteria: sufficient vaccine supply for Californians 16 years and older, and low stable hospitalization rates.
While the details for a full reopening still remain a bit far-fetched, this lift will not conclude to lifting the no-mask mandate anytime soon.
All of these minor details being left out leaves me wondering, maybe it is too soon to begin the full reopen of the economy. We are one of few states that is participating in a fully open economy later in the year compared to the rest of the country.
ELAC student Christina Woodson had also fallen victim to the COVID-19 virus in the past. Woodson said it didn’t influence her stance with everything reopening because she felt this way beforehand. It saddened her since she believed that if we had a stable two weeks in controlling it, we would have been okay, but for whatever reason it went haywire.
When it comes to the criteria held in place by officials, Woodson felt the plan wasn’t carefully thought out and instead rushed. “I think it really shows how terribly prominent greed exists in this society. I still think we should wait until a certain amount of people are actually vaccinated, not just if we have it available,” she said.
ELAC student Ink Athawibunwong agreed that he felt it’s too soon to re-open the full economy. It does not matter that we are one of the few states pushing re-opening later compared to other states.
Athawibunwong said that the plan for reopening isn’t for another month now, but as long as businesses’ retain their safety precautions with the customers, he doesn’t see any other qualms about the decision.
His opinion with the criteria being held in place by officials was both a yes and a no. Yes as far as the vaccine supply, and no in hospitalization rates. “We’ve seen hospitalization rates spike up throughout the year, when it was supposedly low or at the least stable weeks or even days before the spike. From what I’ve seen, the virus is so infectious due to its long incubation period that it allows it to go undetected in terms of symptoms, which can be spread unaware. Meaning, that the stats could be deceptive of the actual numbers,” he said.
For these reasons it is unknown if we have all the necessary precautions to maintain a safe, full-capacity environment just yet. After a while it all starts to feel as if it’s driven by profit and not for the well-being of the human population.