The anger over the Sacramento-mandated beach closures comes amid growing unrest in a county known for years as a bastion of “cowboy capitalism,” a political philosophy emphasizing free markets, low taxes and an aversion to big government
Huntington Beach and Dana Point have voted to seek injunctions, and the Orange County sheriff has said he doesn’t plan to arrest beachgoers.Coupled with that is a resentment of perceived “nanny state” overreach, the idea that “we’re gonna do what’s best for you, whether it’s telling you to wear helmets or not smoke cigarettes,” Smoller said.
Orange County, by Friday’s count, had 2,393 coronavirus cases, with 45 deaths, in a population of about 3 million. The death rate per 100,000 is 1.4.By contrast, Los Angeles County had 23,233 cases, with 1,119 deaths, in a population of 10 million. The death rate per 100,000 is 11.1. Adjacent Riverside County, with a smaller population than Orange, had more than three times as many COVID-19 deaths.
“Usually in situations like this you don’t hear from people who want the beaches closed, because they just assume their city council will do the right thing in terms of protecting them,” Herdman said. “And what happened instead was that ideology entered into the decision-making process.” She said she worried about the danger to lifeguards. “There’s no social distancing when you’re doing a lifeguard rescue,” Brenner said. “We’re putting our lifeguards in danger. The trash cans are just overflowing, so we’re putting our trash-collection personnel in danger. So we’re creating another biohazard.”
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