Economic performance, health outcomes, and educational achievements in California after a second round of shutdown. Image courtesy of Adobe Stock.
We are a week into our second shutdown here in California.
Restaurants may only provide food to-go or for outdoor dining. The outdoor dining option only helps restaurants stay in business if they have enough outdoor patio space to have enough tables to seat enough customers to stay in business and then only if the temperature (during July and August!) is tolerable.
Churches are prohibited from having worship services inside. Churches who are rich enough to have lots of outdoor space to sit and well off enough to afford two sets of audio equipment can worship live. The first amendment has been partially suspended again.
Gyms, salons, and bars are closed.
On 7/14/20, the Wall Street Journal also explained the issue in a short editorial: California’s Second Shutdown.
The core issue:
A lockdown will cause more harm (economically, socially, physically, psychologically, educationally, and emotionally) than the pandemic will cause.
The WSJ article explains that issue briefly.
I have extensively explained that issue with over 40,000 words warning of the dangers.
Damage to children
All schools in counties on the state’s watch list will be closed at the start of the new school year. This affects 32 counties with about 80% of the state’s population.
7/17/20 – CBS Los Angeles – Newsom Orders All Public, Private Schools in Watch-Listed Counties to Stay Closed.
Schools in those counties may resume in-person instruction if certain health metrics are met. Of course, they will close again if those metrics move across a line defined by the state. This might leave districts whipsawed – open up when the stats improve and then maybe have to close a month or week later when the stats deteriorate.
This will harm all school children in those counties. Poor children will have the worst of it.
Children who are highly motivated or are already good students will probably get by okay.
Average or struggling students will suffer terribly. How will they every catch up?
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