Modoc County, Which Has Voted To Secede From California, Decided To Follow Texas And Open Up Businesses Yesterday

An L.A. Times newsletter yesterday talked about "Californians’ Line in the Sand" and noted how "Last weekend, hot weather and perhaps a touch of spring fever sent crowds flocking to Orange County beaches during the coronavirus pandemic. As the photos that went around the internet showed, few were wearing masks. This weekend, even though the forecast is cooler, Gov. Gavin Newsom is having none of that. He has directed a temporary “hard close” of all state and local beaches in Orange County as part of the effort to slow the spread of the coronavirus, which has killed more than 2,000 people across the state. Newsom is cracking down on the Orange County coastline at a critical moment, when some communities have begun pushing to loosen local restrictions. Sparsely populated Modoc County, in the northeastern corner of California, might even defy orders and allow all businesses, schools and churches to reopen starting today, as long as people stay six feet apart... Perhaps as a consolation, state officials emphasized there are many other outdoor activities Californians can do while adhering to the stay-at-home order. Those include tree climbing, crabbing, meditation, trampolining, outdoor photography and washing the car. But not congregating at the beach."

A new poll of California voters from the UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies found that we approved of how Newsom is doing his job, and that 61% said Trump is mostly or completely responsible for the shortages of tests and medical supplies that have dogged efforts to combat the coronavirus. But probably not up in Modoc County-- population, not quite 9,000 people.

Modoc County is the northeast corner of the state, where Oregon, California and Nevada meet. In 2016, Trump did better in Modoc County than he did in any of the states you probably think of as Trumpist hellholes. 71.8% of Modoc County's 3,000-some-odd voters picked Trump. Trump didn't do as well in any of the 5 worst Trump sewer states:

• Wyoming- 70.1%
• West Virginia 68.7%
• Oklahoma- 65.3%
• Alabama- 62.9%
• Idaho- 59.2%

We last looked at Modoc County almost a full decade ago-- Modoc County-- A Lesson In Republican Extremism And Their Cult Of Freeloading-- when the tax-adverse sociopaths who run the county were preparing to shit down the county's only hospital, which also happened to be the county's biggest employer.

The county's board of supervisors voted to allow its schools, hair salons, churches, restaurants and the county’s only movie theater to reopen, to open yesterday, flouting Newsom's safety orders. A few years ago, the board of supervisors voted unanimously to secede from California and form its own state, Jefferson.

On Thursday, Ned Coe, a cattle rancher and county supervisor, said "county officials sent Newsom a letter about a week ago outlining their plan, "which he said meets the guidelines outlined by the governor for stay-home orders to be eased out in phases, but they haven’t received a response. He said he was not worried the state might take legal action against the county for violating Newsom’s order, which does not yet allow such businesses to reopen."

“The governor himself has indicated that it is time to start opening in a staged and safe manner, and that will be different for different areas of the state,” he said.

Newsom’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the letter, but when asked about Modoc County’s plans at his daily coronavirus briefing, Newsom did not say whether he would move to stop the reopening.

“Nothing would please me more than pleasing those local officials … but we’re not out of the woods,” he said. “No part of the state, no part of this country, few parts of the globe have been immune to this virus.”

He also reinforced that while local governments are free to adopt more stringent guidelines, they cannot adopt looser ones.

For most people, the new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness and lead to death, and nursing homes have been hit hard.

In the Modoc County seat of Alturas, population 3,000, where restaurants serving Mexican, Italian, Chinese and other cuisines cater to travelers using Highway 395, some restaurant managers were removing tables or spacing them out to make sure they are ready to keep the required distance between customers.

Most parts of the county are so sparsely populated that people already keep their distance from each other, Coe said. He said the hairstylist he frequents has only one chair at her salon and works alone.

“Social distancing was the norm here before it became the popular thing in the state,” Coe said.

The plan will be revisited after two weeks, and the stricter measures could be reinstated if at least two people test positive for the coronavirus, according to the new guidelines.

At Brass Rail, a large Basque restaurant in Alturas, employees were getting the bar area ready to open Friday by spacing out tables, said owner Jodie Larranaga.

“Everyone knows each other very well in this town and we can’t wait to see each other. Most people here are pretty fed up and done and over it,” she said of the shelter-in-place orders.

Larranaga said she will have signs throughout the bar reminding people about social distancing and other guidelines but she has no plans to police her patrons.
Trump's job approval ratings have collapsed in the states he needs for reelection. But he'll still win both Dakotas https://shar.es/aHk9nA “My bar tables are already far apart but if people pull their stools together, I’m not going to stop them,” Larranaga said.

“As far as I’m concerned, right or wrong, that’s their choice. They are adults,” she added.

Yes, adults who drive cars, into Redding and down to Reno, where normal people don't want to get COVID-19. And speaking of cars, the 395 Freeway goes right through the county, where people stop and eat and shop.