Authoritarian CA Pauses COVID Rules For NFL

 California, a state that maintains some of the strictest restrictions for Covid-19, allowed thousands of fans together without masks or social distancing this Sunday for the Bengals vs Chiefs game.  California has distributed millions N95 masks and most California public schools still have mask mandates.  The Chiefs Bengals game nearly sold out in Arrowhead stadium which has a capacity of 76,000 people.  Despite this, California has put Covid-19 restrictions in place that are even stricter than what the CDC recommends.  Deadline News Reports–

 

“The U.S. Centers for Disease Control on Monday shortened the recommended isolation and quarantine guidelines for Americans who contract or are exposed to Covid-19 from 10 to five days. The move drew swift criticism from many experts, who questioned the logic behind the decision.

“I don’t think there’s any big change in science that justifies a change in guidance,” said Lawrence Gostin, director of the World Health Organization’s Collaborating Center on National and Global Health Law. In his view, the guidance “has much more to do with societal function than to do with science.”

One of the biggest criticisms was that shortening the isolation and quarantine requirement should be augmented with a negative test requirement. Today, California did exactly that with its updated guidelines.

The guidance issued by the state’s public health director, Tomás Aragón, mostly aligns with the new CDC recommendations, but it contains “additional testing recommendations to exit isolation and quarantine and improved masking measures.”

The California framework says “local health jurisdictions may be more restrictive” and allows that residents who have received booster shots “do not have to stay home but should test on day five.”