Our county officials—while solving one problem—are creating others. We are far, far away from reaching herd immunity. Dr. Sara Cody and others believe sheltering in place saves lives and “flattens the curve.” This strategy means that the level of people exposed to COVID-19 is reduced. It also means those who would otherwise be exposed and experience asymptomatic cases (which are the majority) are reduced as well.

It seems current Santa Clara County COVID-19 public coronavirus policy will delay more people developing immunity and increase economic damage and human suffering. While things will not return to normal, it is time to consider some retail establishments to open with social distancing and hygiene precautions in place.

I trust Dr. Cody, but I wish she would have required masks to be worn outside. I hope Mountain View will make a local decision on this issue. Cupertino already passed a local requirement to wear masks.

"In terms of seeing a light at the end of the tunnel, that's pretty hard to visualize at this point because, in order to prevent the spread of this virus and try to mute the pandemic, the only tool we really have is shelter-in-place," the county's executive Dr. Jeff Smith said Friday in a teleconference with the Silicon Valley Commonwealth Club, a Bay Area-based public affairs forum. "We don't have the treatment; we don't have the vaccine; we don't have any other specific way to deal with the pandemic."

County exec and Cody continue to spout these lines knowing that they simply aren't true and the issue is far more nuanced. Yet they aren't challenged by the politicos. There are other tools available, Smith and Cody just don't want to admit it publicly because then folks might second guess their extreme lockdown that has destroyed hundreds of thousands of lives (real unemployment in bay area is > 20% now), will lead to an uptick in suicides, and is causing mile-long backups at our food banks. Truth is that we won't have a treatment or vaccine for a VERY long time, if ever. So.... are we going to shelter in place for the rest of our lives?

> knowing that they simply aren't true

Yet all you do after your false accusation is prattle on with fringe libertarian talking points, and do not substantiate your claim.

What lines? "knowing that they simply aren't true"

We had defenses in place to launch a coordinated national response and supply lines.
Trump got rid of them. He brought the shields down to allow the viral enemy to rampage trough the US then he tried to blame it on the media.

Since the shutdown was based on models that exaggerated the need for hospitalization and fatalities, it stands to reason that the decisions based on those models should likewise be updated. However, the CA governor and some counties have decided to ignore the science and continue to shutter the economy. It's important for at-risk people to be cautious and it's considerate for people to wear masks when in closed areas.

But the continuation of the lockdown and the arbitrary determination of "essential" businesses needs to end.

> the CA governor and some counties have decided to ignore the science

Just because you scream something out loud doesn't make it true.

You're confusing Donald (hydroxychloroquine with a bleach chaser) Trump with a very popular governor (beat his opponent 2-1, ~80% approval rating compared to Trump at 44% this month.)

Please, list links where Newsom has 'ignored' science.

Dan Waylonis, like most libertarians, wants to "open up the economy" and force low-wage workers to choose between not feeding their families or exposing themselves to a virus that's already killed almost 60K Americans. Dan's a tech worker, so he'll be working remotely either way, so he just wants his investments to go up in value.