Newsom Extends Some Emergency Powers through March 2022

How long will California be in a state of emergency due to COVID-19?

Gov. Gavin Newsom last week issued an executive order that extends certain portions of his March 4, 2020 emergency proclamation through March 31, 2022 — raising questions about what conditions would prompt Newsom or state lawmakers to phase out the emergency powers that have shaped Californians’ lives for nearly two years and affected more than 400 laws and regulations.

In extending California’s ability to hire out-of-state health care workers and waive certain licensing requirements, among other things, Newsom cited “the potential beginning of a new surge in COVID-19 cases” and “short-staffed and backlogged” health care facilities. It’s a rationale similar to the one he gave in June, when he said he would keep California’s state of emergency in place even as the economy fully reopened: “This disease has not been extinguished.”

Erin Mellon, a Newsom spokesperson, said Sunday: “The state of emergency ensures the state can continue to respond quickly to evolving conditions as the pandemic persists. As we have seen, this virus and variants are unpredictable. The state of emergency will be ended once conditions no longer warrant an emergency response.”

The news comes as some Californians seek clarity on milestones that would prompt the state to unwind its emergency measures.

Two UCSF doctors — including the director of the emergency department’s COVID response — recently started a petition calling on Newsom to identify metrics under which the state would lift its school mask mandate.

On Friday, a superior court judge dismissed a lawsuit challenging the mask mandate, citing the governor’s emergency authority. (However, the judge also noted that districts can decide for themselves how to enforce the mandate and whether they want to follow the state’s testing and quarantine guidelines.)

Meanwhile, resistance to mask and vaccine mandates appears to be growing in corners of the state that have long opposed Newsom’s COVID rules. A handful of rural Northern California school districts recently voted to defy Newsom’s student COVID-19 vaccine mandate once it goes into effect, putting them at risk of losing millions of dollars in state funding.

Dorit Rubinstein Reiss, a UC Hastings College of the Law professor: “I wonder how many districts will hold to their views when it’s real show time … Especially given the fact that unless the Legislature acts, the mandate will have an open-ended personal belief exemption, so no parent would actually have to vaccinate.”

Vitriol has grown so intense in some rural areas that local governments are dealing with what one state emergency official called a “stark acceleration of domestic violent extremism.”
Last week, the Butte County town of Oroville made national headlines for declaring itself a “constitutional republic” in opposition to Newsom’s pandemic rules.

But nothing can match the wild west of the internet, where social media users recently circulated a “deepfake” video edited to make it look like one side of Newsom’s face was drooping in reaction to his COVID-19 booster shot. Newsom last week characterized such rumors about his nearly two-week absence from public events as “a rabbit hole of conspiracies,” adding that he didn’t have any reaction to the booster shot and had been spending time with family.The coronavirus bottom line:

As of Saturday, California had 4,731,592 confirmed cases (+0.3% from previous day) and 72,436 deaths (+0.2% from previous day), according to state data. CalMatters is also tracking coronavirus hospitalizations by county.

California has administered 55,544,488 vaccine doses, and 66.6% of eligible Californians are fully vaccinated.

Emily Hoeven is a reporter with CalMatters.

7 Comments

  1. Pandemic-fueled Control Freaks aren’t yet done messing with us in the name of public health.

    “2 Weeks to Flatten the Curve” to “Vaccinated Only” – The New Normal…

    Is CA’s ‘Brandon’ the Gov Gavin Newsom, or the City, County & State Bureaucrats?

    Lets Go Gavin!

  2. Pretty Weak Excuse… How long are the Halloween festivities celebrated at sir Gavins?

    The UN Climate Change Conference (COP 26) Event dates: 31 Oct 2021 – 12 Nov 2021.

    And the Elites were flying in & out of Scotland, UK in their Private Jets fairly regularly to attend some small portion of the Royal Gathering ‘doings’.

  3. Can anyone explain why with millions of excess deaths from Covid that the market size of funeral homes, at least in the United States (the data I have), has gone from $16.54 billion in 2015 to $15.92 billion in 2020 and is projected to be only $15.98 billion in 2021? It doesn’t really make sense, does it?

    If the number of deaths have really gone up by 25% due to covid wouldn’t you expect funeral home revenues to have gone up at least a little?? Particularly since we get stories all the time about them being over run with deceased people. I would have expected the market size to go up significantly, at least temporarily, not down. Something is not adding up in all the stories we’re being told…

    https://www.statista.com/statistics/883227/revenue-of-funeral-homes-in-the-us/

  4. I think probably some of these co-morbidities are quite morbid, kinda like dey already in the queue…!

    https://oaklandside.org/2021/06/04/alameda-countys-new-covid-death-toll-is-25-lower-than-thought/?fbclid=IwAR2xqqhsBXfEVI7eNuXg77mEBpRVkYKBAhUSiUdAZHLmJMp0kWu9xuXCsCA

    them Alameda County folk – dare are some science-denying fox news watcher-ing flat earthers for yah! Now get the jab ready for the kids, the quarter end is coming and we got get these doses out of finished goods!

    chop chop lemmings

  5. @Joe Smith, A little off topic…I won’t dig deep into the statista data, but for 2020 and most of 2021 I would guess the amount of Formal Funeral Home viewings/ remembrance ceremonies were not as large as before lockdowns. Less family & friends traveling to attend an event (if held at all) would cut down on the need for all the over-inflated charges that Funeral Directors are able to collect for all the ‘extras’ from grieving family members, making decisions without really much forethought or planing.

    Reducing the revenues of the typical cost of a funeral – normally between $7,600 and $12,000.

    Add to that the increased choice of cremation.. “According to the 2021 NFDA Cremation & Burial Report, in 2021, the projected burial rate is 36.6% and projected cremation rate is 57.7%.”

    “….while cremation costs are cheaper than burial costs, chances are the Funeral Director is going to try and lift your budget as high as possible.”

    Add in the option in many cases for Low-cost Direct Cremation (in simple terms a no-service cremation.)
    Direct Cremation in most cases costs range from $500 to $2,000 … “In most states and metro areas of the U.S. a direct cremation will cost between $700 and $1,000, so still, a very reasonable cost to arrange a complete disposition.”

    Direct Vs Normal Cremation: What You Don’t Get
    The expensive elements of a regular cremation are excluded with a low-cost cremation,
    such as the ones below:
    – No cost of a memorial service
    – An expensive casket is not required
    – There is no viewing
    – Embalming or cosmetic preparations are not necessary.
    – Unless you decide to bury the ashes, there is no plot, digging of the grave, or headstone marker.

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