The Coronavirus. We're on our own

It isn't politics or infrastructure. It's personal responsibility

For politicians like Gov. Gavin Newsom, it had to be a bit of a jolt.

When Alameda County experienced an alarming spike in COVID-19 cases, it was put on the state’s “watch list.” Strict measures were announced. Outdoor dining, which had been allowed, was stopped.

Sorry, county officials said. We know how much people enjoy going out to eat again, but we have no choice. People will just have to sacrifice.

To which the cities of Oakland, Livermore, Hayward and Dublin had an interesting response:

“Nah,” they said. “We’re good. We’re just going to stay open.”

Now, Alameda applied for a variance from the state and this will get settled. But for a moment it looked like one of those tipping points, when a politician issues an edict and his constituents wave at him and go back to doing what they want.

That turns out to be the final, basic reality about this pandemic. This isn’t a test of politics or infrastructure. It is personal responsibility.

At this point we are all making individual choices. Wear a mask? Hug a family member? Get into an elevator with another person? It’s consequential. If a figure like Newsom says that everyone is required to wear a mask, and most people do, the system works.

If not, he ends up standing on the deck, issuing orders, while the crew breaks into the grog barrel.

To be fair, Newsom created his own uncertainty with his peek-a-boo reopening narrative. We’re closed. We’re open. Now we’re closed again.

Also — and this is true nationally too — the virus didn’t roll out evenly across the state. Urban centers were hit first. Rural areas had hardly any cases at first.

For those residents, the pandemic seemed like a news story, not a threat. A confidence built up that the virus wasn’t venturing outside the cities, so there was no need to take strict precautions. They became the vanguard of the everything-is-fine-let’s-reopen crowd.

Now Coronavirus is hitting rural areas hard. Bloomberg News had a stat that nine of the ten highest case numbers per capita in the country were in counties of 50,000 people or less. In California, Lake and Placer counties say their intensive care units are nearly at capacity.

And all of that is important because there’s a big lift coming up right away — reopening schools.

Schools are the real acid test for all of this. They are important both for the education of school kids, but also for the freedom they give parents to get back to work.

Newsom was bold in the April, shutting down schools for the remainder of the spring semester. That kind of grand gesture is not going to fly now, with the president and his supporters angrily agitating for re-opening.

Instead, he’s stepping back and leaving it up to the districts to decide. And some went big. Los Angeles, San Diego and Santa Clara school districts all announced they would hold virtual classes only for the fall semester. That’s nearly 870,000 students.

Meanwhile, dependably obstinate Orange County voted to re-open schools — without masks or social distancing. #facepalm.

So, just like with COVID and the urban and rural areas, you have two very diametrically opposed opinions on this.

But there’s a group that very well might have the final say in this — teachers.

It is fine, and important, to talk about the health and safety of kids. But the really at-risk people in the classroom are the teachers. And by the way, they aren’t medical personnel, whose job it is to treat sick people. (And God bless them for doing it.)

Teachers can pull a Buster Posey on this. Just say, you know what? I am not prepared to risk my life to teach in a classroom. Certainly not for this subsistence wage that you pay me. (And that’s not to forget the cafeteria workers, janitors and staff.)

And if enough of them feel that way? If enough of them opt out? It is going to be very tough to open schools.

You can’t blame the teachers if they go their own way. At the end of the day, that’s how this pandemic is playing out. People are making their own decisions for their own best interest. And the voices of political leaders and presidents are just noise in the background.

All we can do is hope everyone takes personal responsibility.

At this point we’re on our own.

(OK, that was kind of grim, so I thought I would include something to take you by surprise and make you shake your head.

Do you know why today is an important date?

Because before the Coronavirus changed it to August, it would have been the second day of the Democratic National Convention.)

OK, this wasn’t a great column, but the batting average is still pretty good. Of course you’d know that if you subscribed to the newsletter. It is both easy and free. What’s not to like?

Re-open sports? Too many red flags

Like most sports fans, I was gung-ho on re-opening the seasons for sports. We are all bored with watching Warrior playoff replays — although it is still fun to see J.R. Smith telling LeBron “I thought we were ahead.”

So some live action sounded great. But as I wrote in my Sunday column for the Press Democrat the idea is losing its appeal.

Baseball, in particular, seems to be rushing the season. The players and staff do not seem to have overcome their concern about their health. We all applaud Buster Posey for taking the year off to help with his two newly adopted daughters.

But Posey is still opting out because he doesn’t think he’s safe from getting Coronavirus and passing it on. That’s a big statement from a star in the game and it has to give others in team uniforms pause.

If I were you, I’d send this over to that person you know who likes to read this kind of stuff. Just click the button. It’s free.

Raheem Mostert may have picked a bad time to demand a raise or a trade

There is no promise that the NFL will play this year. The owners are pushing for it, but the teams have some real doubts.

But there’s always time for endlessly discussing players and that’s what we did in this 49ers blog. It is worth clicking on the link because it opens with a video Jerick McKinnon posted of himself working out.

McKinnon, as the Faithful know, was much ballyhooed when he signed a pass-catching running back. He promptly tore his ACL, missed the 2018 season, then came back and had more problems with the knee and missed last year too.

He looks healthy in the video, which makes you wonder what the implications are for Mostert.

Mostert is a feel-good story for the 49ers. He had a breakout season last year, leading the team in rushing. Now he’d either like his contract restructured or to be traded.

It’s reasonable, but you have to wonder if the team has enough faith in McKinnon to make a trade with Mostert.

And this is how we pass the time when there’s no sports.

Contact C.W. Nevius at cwnevius@gmail.com. Comments and suggestions welcome. Criticism, not so much. Twitter: @cwnevius