Newport Beach Keeps Beaches Open, Despite CA Governor’s Criticism
Matt Travis
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On April 28th, the Newport Beach, CA city council rejected an ordinance that would have closed beaches (by a vote of 5-2). This comes despite criticism from California governor, Gavin Newsom.
Over the weekend, Newport Beach saw tens of thousands of people show up to their beaches. Pictures of the crowded beaches quickly filled headlines and articles.
Some thought it was great to see people getting back to semi-normal. Others were not impressed.
Among those upset about the crowds was governor Gavin Newsom. He said,
This virus does not take off weekends…. This virus doesn’t go home because it’s a beautiful, sunny day along our coast.
This is kind of an ironic statement.
It’s recently been reported that the virus does, in fact, “go home” in “beautiful, sunny” weather. Experts now say that sunlight and heat kill the virus very fast.
This reporting is based on the National Biodefense Analysis and Countermeasures Center’s (NBACC) newest study, which was leaked by the DHS.
The NBACC study says that “sunlight destroys the virus quickly,” the “virus lives longer at low temperatures and inactivates faster and temperature increases,” and the “virus lives longer at low humidity and inactivates faster at high humidity.”
All three of these attributes would mean it’s very possibly safer outside on a hot and humid beach, than inside in a cool and dry home.
This new information didn’t deter Gavin Newsom from threatening those who would dare go to the beach. He said,
Those images are an example of what not to see…what not to do if we’re going to make the meaningful progress that we’ve made in the last few weeks extend into the next number of weeks. I cannot impress upon you more…that we can’t see the images like we saw, particularly on Saturday in Newport Beach and elsewhere, in the state of California.
The reality is we are just a few weeks away, not months away, from making measurable and meaningful changes to our stay-at-home order. That is a very optimistic point to emphasize. However, that’s driven by data, it’s driven by behavior, and as we change our behavior, we can impact the science the health and the data….
I don’t want to be punitive. My gosh, someone who has lost their job, last thing they want to do is — walk their dog, they’re with their kids, they’ve got cabin fever, and they just want to take a rest on the beach, and all of a sudden, they get a citation. I don’t want to see that happen.
But if there are people thumbing their nose and abusing it, putting their lives at risk because they’re impacting the lives of others, and ultimately setting back the cause of reopening the economy as quickly as we’d like to, I think we may have to do a little bit more.
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