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Dripping with sweat on a sweltering morning, workers navigated the construction site of the new state Natural Resources Agency headquarters in downtown Sacramento.
Parkwest Casino Lotus owner, John Park, and Clarke Rosa, who owns Capitol Casino, appealed the decision, after filing a lawsuit against the city last summer in an effort to prevent the cardroom license, which was held by the now-shuttered Casino Royale, from being taken over by Ayers. Parkwest Casino Lotus, Sacramento. United States; California (CA). South Fork Half-Day Whitewater Rafting Trip.
All but a couple wore masks.
Inside Arden Fair mall, the vast majority of shoppers wore them. At the Bel Air supermarket on Laguna Boulevard in Elk Grove, and the Sprouts grocery store near the Sacramento Zoo, not a single person was without a mask.
A surprising thing happened when Gov. Gavin Newsom, alarmed by rising COVID-19 infections, ordered Californians last week to begin wearing masks in nearly all outdoor and indoor settings:
In Sacramento County, most of them agreed.
A series of spot checks by The Sacramento Bee this week found broad compliance with Newsom’s order despite the discomfort of 90-degree heat — and the widespread recognition that Californians wouldn’t face any legal consequences for ignoring the governor.
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“I think it’s more a ‘good to do it’ kind of thing. They’re not going to enforce it,” said Wendy Lofing-Rossotti, who wore a mask as she greeted customers at Lofings Lighting shop in midtown Sacramento. “It’s like the curfew.”
Lofing-Rossotti said she’s turned away a few customers who said they forgot their masks — they retrieved them from their cars and returned to the store — but she hasn’t encountered anyone refusing to wear one.
Newsom’s order comes as public health authorities wrestle with a recent surge in COVID-19 cases. Sacramento County reported 131 new cases of the coronavirus Tuesday, the most ever in a single day. The state recorded 5,019 new cases, also a record. Perhaps more ominously, the state said hospitalizations for COVID-19 have jumped 25 percent in 10 days.
County health officials said they believe the increase is a result of more widespread testing and a distressing number of large private gatherings — everything from birthday parties to funerals — with no regard for social distancing or facial coverings.
They added that the rising number of infections has less to do with the reopening of bars, restaurants, nail salons and many other businesses in recent weeks — although there have been examples of the disease sprouting in places that have resumed business.
The Zebra Club in midtown Sacramento —where a Bee reporter found the rules on masks and social distancing being largely ignored last week — closed Tuesday after a customer tested positive for the coronavirus. The Parkwest Casino Lotus, a card room in Sacramento’s Little Saigon neighborhood, closed last week after an employee tested positive. The casino had been open just three days, after shutting down for three months.
Even as the number of infections increases, police agencies are balking at enforcing Newsom’s order on masks. Sacramento County Sheriff Scott Jones said his deputies will focus on educating scofflaws instead of arresting anyone, “due to the minor nature of the offense, the potential for negative outcomes during enforcement encounters.”
But health officials said enforcement isn’t really the point. The very existence of the governor’s order is prompting more people to wear masks, said Dr. Peter Beilenson, the county’s health services director.
Beilenson dropped by an ACE Hardware and counted 35 people in the store, including employees. All employees were wearing masks, and almost all customers were doing likewise. At a California Pizza Kitchen, everyone he saw entering the restaurant was wearing a mask.
“The bottom line is, mandating it is making it the cultural norm,” Beilenson said.
More Americans wearing masks
Kurt Weiss was a little annoyed — at himself.
He walked up to Mike’s Camera shop in midtown Monday afternoon without a mask. An employee sitting behind a table at the door politely asked him to leave. He did.
“I forgot my mask,” Weiss told a reporter as he walked away. He said he doesn’t fault the store management.
“I don’t have an issue with it,” he said. Weiss, who works at Travis Air Force Base, said he puts a mask on during shift changes and other times when he’s in close contact with colleagues.
Two months ago, in the early weeks of the coronavirus pandemic, state officials were decidedly lukewarm about the importance of wearing masks. Dr. Sonia Angell, director of the California Department of Public Health, told reporters in early April she was afraid that someone putting on a mask would then ignore other guidelines, such as the need for social distancing or hand washing.
“There may be some benefits from using (face coverings), but only when they’re used well,” Angell said.
Since then, public health officials have been preaching the virtues of masks as a way of slowing the spread of COVID-19.
“Right now, the important message is face coverings,” said Dr. Olivia Kasirye, Sacramento County’s health officer.
A Gallup poll released Tuesday said 84 percent of American adults reported wearing a mask outside the home between June 8 and 14.
“Face mask usage is up while personal social distancing and support for collective social distancing are both down,” the polling organization added.
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Face masks and politics
Face masks have become a political symbol. Gallup reported that Democrats are far more likely to wear masks and practice social distancing than Republicans. Very few supporters wore masks at President Donald Trump’s re-election rally over the weekend in Tulsa even though they were available at the door.
Kirk Uhler, a Republican member of the Placer County Board of Supervisors who lost his bid for re-election in March, recently posted a video of himself on Facebook tearing a bandana off his face and dismissing cloth facial coverings as useless medically. The masks are being worn by people to show “that you care,” he said sarcastically. He said non-wearers are “suffering the iron scorn of those who are wearing masks.”
Hundreds of anti-vaccination protesters put their political beliefs on display at the Capitol on Tuesday.
The demonstrators marched around the Capitol grounds to protest California’s vaccination laws. A Bee reporter didn’t see any protester wearing a mask. The marchers said they don’t believe Newsom has the authority to make them wear one.
Corey Thompson, a south Sacramento resident, said he has a medical exemption because of stitches in his mouth following recent surgery. A doctor told him a mask could restrict the flow of oxygen.
Medical reasons aside, Thompson was dismissive of the governor’s order.
“I refuse to wear one,” he said. “I’m free to make my own choice.”
Across the street, state employees wearing masks headed into office buildings. Holding a sign that read, “Give a Voice to the Vaccine Injured,” Liza Nickolas of La Palma in Orange County, said seeing people wear masks makes her anxious.
Besides, she said she sees a connection between the governor’s order and the state’s vaccination laws.
Newsom’s stance on masks is intended “to make us comfortable and compliant (so) we’ll fall in line with the vaccine,” she said.
Sol Ortiz, a Bay Area resident marching with her two sons, agreed.
“It’s all about control,” she said. Newsom is “really oppressing us into believing something is real.” Although she doesn’t dispute the existence of the virus, she’s never met anyone who’s had it and believes the risk is minimal.
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