Covid Updates: "Model Better Behavior"

Our four earlier Covid-19 tracking posts start here, then go here with the most recent ones here and here. Before I get to this week's Saturday update on the County numbers, let's examine current Covid events.  Today's SF Comicle is reporting

Gov. Gavin Newsom attended a birthday party for a political adviser last week that included people from several households, the type of gathering his administration has discouraged during the coronavirus pandemic.  The dinner the night of Nov. 6 at the famed French Laundry in Yountville in Napa County brought together at least 12 people...Representatives for Kinney and Newsom declined to specify how many households the diners represented, but did not dispute that it was more than three...On Monday, he pointed to private gatherings, such as extended families getting together, as a driving factor of the increase in new cases in the state...“While our family followed the restaurant’s health protocols and took safety precautions, we should have modeled better behavior and not joined the dinner,” the governor said.

I think we can all agree with his assertion that he should do better.  Perhaps as penance, Newsom should put up a webcam at his family's Thanksgiving dinner so we know he's learned his lesson?  Here are the main rules plus one that was shown on the next screen that demanded No Singing or Shouting at T-day dinner.  Got that?

Now back to our weekly update.  Several counties are locking down indoor dining again, but no word from San Mateo County yet.  Here are the week's numbers from the County site:

Total Cases: 12,465 (+655, climbing again by about another 200)

R-eff: 1.03 (the same as last week)

Positivity: 5.4% (the same as last week)

Burlingame Cases: 279 (+19 for the week, so climbing.  Don't let your guard down now.  And no shouting.)

Comments

[Handle Bard]

If Grandpa gotta pee
No toilet he gonna need

The man went to battle
Gonna wee-- brook no prattle

Guy worked his whole life
Won't tolerate fake strife

:-)

[Gavinius Caesar]

I, Gavinius Caesar, declare the Empire shall close for the Fall festival. Only I shall partake of the Gallic feasting in the land of the grape. Fine duckling, chanterelles with jam. More than a score of my faithful servants who tithe profusely. Only they shall feast. The rest shall cower in their hovels and eat gruel. And so it shall be.

[Everything's Jake]

Gavinius Caesar, if we all learn sign language may we be given a pass for T-Day?

[Joe]

Here we go....... "In the Bay Area, Alameda, Contra Costa, Santa Clara, Napa and Solano counties are among the 28 statewide that will go backward into the most-restrictive category, the purple tier, effective Tuesday. San Francisco, Marin and San Mateo counties are among nine that will move back into the red tier, the second-most restrictive."

[Cathy Baylock]

Gavin was softly criticized for not being a good example because he is in a leadership position. It's much worse than that...he is a hypocrite because he doesn't follow his own rules. Classic "do as I say, not as I do". Shame on him.

[Everything's Jake]

Cathy, perfectly stated. He eats at The French Laundry with his friends (one a lobbyist--shocking) while preaching social abstinence. His kids are allowed to sit in an actual classroom. Why won't he let families of kids in the public school system do the same? Is he that beholden to the teacher's union? The craven power grab by the left will be reflected in 2022 elections.

[Pray for Sydney]

But people seem to vote democrat over and over again. We get what we deserve.

I would not be surprised if twitter bans the word hypocrite.

[[email protected]]

We have to stop "Compartmentalizing" ANYONE we do not agree with. I bet Dollars to Donuts that Hillsborough, and "West of El Camino" voted TRUMP.

[Pray for Sydney]

This is so predictable. The great reset will set up a lot of new rules. We all understand that wearing your mask does not protect YOU from a contagious virus. But maybe wearing the face diaper might direct the virus to not spread out as far to others so it is presented as a rational strategy.
So you can expect that people of power will not have to wear masks. The lower people will be required to wear the mask. Gavin, Nancy etc show us how it works. National mandate with some people being more equal than others. It will represent status to not be required.
Today Diane: https://twitter.com/i/status/1328736302028742659

[Joe]

The county starts flashing the purple light:

Currently, the county has an adjusted case rate of 5.7 new cases for every 100,000 residents, after accounting for a state testing credit, and an unadjusted case rate of 10.4 new daily cases per 100,000 residents, according to state data released Monday. If the county moves into the purple tier, additional restrictions could be announced by the end of this week or the beginning of next week, she said, noting the county’s case rate has doubled since reporting to the supervisors a week ago. Those restrictions could affect businesses and school reopening plans.

https://www.smdailyjournal.com/news/local/county-at-risk-of-purple-tier/article_fd118620-2957-11eb-9708-6302acfc1093.html#utm_source=smdailyjournal.com&utm_campaign=%2Fnewsletters%2Fheadlines%2F%3F-dc%3D1605711607&utm_medium=email&utm_content=headline

[Whoopsy]

California Medical Association officials were among the guests seated next to Gov. Gavin Newsom at a top California political operative’s opulent birthday dinner at the French Laundry restaurant this month.

CEO Dustin Corcoran and top CMA lobbyist Janus Norman both joined the dinner at the French Laundry, an elite Napa fine dining restaurant, to celebrate the 50th birthday of lobbyist and longtime Newsom adviser Jason Kinney, a representative of the powerful interest group confirmed Wednesday morning.

[Gavinius Caesar]

I, Gavinius Caesar, declare that my feast was outdoors. My subjects must not view any images that show it was indoors or be sent to the Colosseum.

[Wunderkind]

$350 to $850 pp for group seating.

[Joe]

I'm feeling a little sorry for the French Laundry. Yes, believe it or not, they have just become a Covid-Meme and it is likely to stick for a long time.

"Hey, where's your mask?" "Not to worry, I'm going to the French Laundry".
"Hey, are there more than three households at your get-together?" "Yea, but it's being catered by the French Laundry".
"Are you all eating outdoors at Thanksgiving?" "Nah, we following the protocols of the French Laundry."

6 months from now, they will be sorry they ever took that reservation.

[Pray for Sydney]

Per my comment above I believe hypocrisy is not a big worry for some types of people. The French Laundry is and will be doing just fine.

Our governor is not sorry that he broke his own rules. He is only sorry that he got caught and called out on it. But he knows his supporters don't really see it as a problem.

[Dirty Laundry]

Oh, monsieur. You wanted an OUTSIDE table? Pardon

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jk-O2Td-CzA

[Joe]

Front pages are blasting out warnings, counties are reverting to lockdowns and now curfews. San Mateo County is near the bottom of the list of percent increases and as you can see below the Positivity rate is the same, same, same as it has been. We must be testing more.......

Total Cases: 13,203 (+738, climbing again by about another 100)

R-eff: 1.10 (up 0.7 this week)

Positivity: 5.4% (the exact same as last week and virtually unchanged for weeks)

Burlingame Cases: 300 (+21 for the week, so about the same.)

[Wunderkind]

So, a thought-experiment for 2021.
What will the powers-that-be come up with to instill or maintain fear in the general public and boss us around?

Aliens among us?
A new virus?
War drums overseas?
Terrorism?
Government-sanctioned visions of The Second Coming?
Zombies for real?
Weirdness in the vaccine?

And why would they do this?
They make money whether there is a lockdown or not.
They get their pensions whether they’re working or not.
Life is easier for public servants when the public are shut away.
Feelings of majesty and privilege.

[Sez Willie Brown]

I hear the wine bill was $12,000. And we know the Gavinor drove there because he said he should have walked back out to his car and left. CHP anyone?

[Peter Garrison]

Breathalyzer with a mask?
False negative.

[Joe]

This just in from CalMatters, LOL Sez Willie:

Gov. Gavin Newsom, First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom and their four children will be quarantining for the next two weeks following the exposure of three of the kids to a California Highway Patrol officer who later tested positive for COVID-19, Newsom spokesman Jesse Melgar said late Sunday night. Melgar said the entire family tested negative for the virus on Sunday and they will continue to be tested regularly. One of the children was already quarantining after being exposed to a COVID-positive schoolmate, Politico reported Friday.
The family’s quarantine comes about a week after news broke that Newsom and his wife had attended a dinner party at the famed French Laundry restaurant — which itself carried risks. The odds that someone at the dinner had the virus were about 11 to 12%, CalMatters’ James Bikales reports.

(Oh, and according to Willie Brown, the wine tab at the dinner was $12,000.)

[Joe]

For the "modeling good behavior" file:

A friend noted that Yelp had to step in a protect the French Laundry's review stream by shutting it down for now-- a courtesy they did not grant to Nancy Pelosi's hair salon.

And from today's WSJ:

Regarding your editorial “Newsom’s Covid Laundry” (Nov. 16): Thanks to California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s celebration at the French Laundry, the name has become synonymous with hypocrisy and the “let them eat cake” attitude of the left. It has also given rise to “French Laundry” signs on the doors of California homes where Thanksgiving dinners will be served— sauce, goose, gander.

Carol F. Nowicki

Castro Valley, Calif.

[Joe]

The County has changed the recording method as follows:

"Please note that the dashboards displayed as of 11/22/20 reflect improvements aimed at aligning what the public can see from our County-level details with the State Blueprint metrics. The COVID-19 cases reflected on the COVID-19 Data Dashboard are now shown by episode date....Importantly, as of today, tests reflected on the COVID-19 Lab Results Dashboard are now shown by numbers of samples rather than numbers of people tested.

Total Cases: 14,148 (+945, rate rising again by about another 200)

R-eff: 1.14 (up 0.04 this week)

Positivity: 3.3% since the beginning (the methodology change has lowered this metric by 2.1% - it has been 5.4% for a long time. The word salad on the website noted above doesn't really explain the large drop. If you divide the number of tests by the number of residents tested it's 2 tests per resident. On 540K tests that is difference of 11,340 cases!)

Burlingame Cases: 328 (+28 for the week, so about the same.)

I have a local friend who called Scott Morrow a few weeks ago and go through to him. Might be time for a live explanation.

[Joe]

Well, there you have it. While I was assembling the numbers for the last comment, this email arrived:

Effective immediately, San Mateo County is now in the most restrictive Purple Tier. A new state order prohibits residents from leaving their homes to gather from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. The new order is starting at 10 p.m. Monday, November 30th. Learn more: https://bit.ly/33pLIjA

[Crack Pot]

Can anyone explain the 10pm curfew to me? What is magic about nighttime? I just don't get it.