The Guardian
California shuffles as unmasked crowds flood vacation spots
Tens of thousands flood the Santa Monica Pier as authorities send mixed messages about the safety of the coronavirus. Crowds gather at Santa Monica Pier this week. Photo: Al Seib / REX / Shutterstock Authorities across Southern California are struggling to contain large crowds of holidays on the beaches, boardwalks and piers this weekend, looking forward to a possible further increase in Covid-19 cases. But they face a restless audience, eager to party in the sun after more than a year of blockades, and seem to have few tools at their disposal to enforce the use of masks and social detachment. Images of hundreds of people with almost no mask huddled on the Santa Monica pier or huddled around street performers on the Venice boardwalk in recent days have raised concerns that spring break at the Golden State might get out of hand, just as it did in Miami Beach, Florida, and trigger a superspreader event. Although vaccine distribution in the region has increased significantly in recent weeks – about 50% of adults in Los Angeles County have received at least one injection – local public health officials are warning that it is too early for the public to let their guard down. LA’s director of public health, Barbara Ferrer, warned people this week not to be “sloppy” traveling and meeting with others. That message, however, was hampered by a rapid reduction in restrictions on the pandemic and by political leaders eager to deliver good news and restart the economy. Some theme parks have reopened this week, and open-air bars and bowling alleys will be able to operate in Los Angeles again on Monday. “Every metric we’re following locally is going in the right direction,” Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti told reporters at an optimistic press conference this week, in which he made only a brief mention of the need for spring break. “A key event this year”. Garcetti’s tone contrasted sharply with that of Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), who said she had a sense of “impending doom” amid rising infections in parts of the country. Local authorities in Santa Monica saw similar omens last weekend, when more than 100,000 people visited the city’s famous pier without restriction, and street vendors, who are not allowed on the pier, lit bars on mobile carts, posing a risk of considerable fire for the fragile wooden structure. “If a gas tank exploded on the dock, it would be hell and disaster,” said councilman Phil Brock. “I was there for 45 minutes on Saturday night and I didn’t see any police … It was supposed to be a weekend of maximum inspection, but there was no inspection.” Santa Monica city leaders now plan to restrict the number of passengers at the pier this weekend, closing access to new arrivals at 7:00 pm, three hours before closing. They also plan to send half a dozen “health ambassadors” who will remind visitors of the pier to cover their faces and offer masks free of charge. City officials will not, however, return to a system in place last summer, when visitors could only enter the pier from a single access point, and the numbers were strictly monitored by firefighters. They are also reluctant to instruct the police to hand out fines for violating city rules on wearing masks. These measures “are not our preference,” said Deputy Municipal Administrator Anuj Gupta. Police in other popular coastal communities with spring break – Venice, Manhattan Beach and Hermosa Beach – have shown a similar reluctance to invade crowds or interrupt beach parties, in part because there are few rules that govern behavior in open public spaces and staff elected officials fear the political consequences of looking clumsy. The crowds on the beach, however, infuriated local residents whose children were unable to return to school in person. Gupta, the Santa Monica official, said he saw no evidence of people becoming ill after visiting the beaches in his city. But he also acknowledged that if out-of-town visitors got sick or infected others after returning home, there was no way to find out about it. “It is possible that a certain complacency has been established,” said Gupta. “But it is also up to people to be aware of and comply with health guidelines.”