California Could Reopen Sooner than Governor’s Forecast, Experts Say
California may be able to begin lifting restrictions ahead of the projected schedule of Gov. Gavin Newsom. This is according to researchers. Without the exact reopening date, the governor is said to be "still looking to future data," specifically showing a peak middle of May.
Gov. Newsom is reportedly resisting the pressure to be ahead of the date. He is also resisting some of the actions the counties and cities have taken to reopen the state. Relatively, Cleve Morris, Placerville City manager said, they seem to be controlling virus's spread at this time.
Placerville to Reopen
Placerville is among the group of counties and cities in California enthusiastic about the reopening. Morris added, there have been no COVID-19 cases in the city for the past three or four weeks already. The manager also said he's like to work with Gov. Newsom on the lifting limitations.
More so, he said, the county is currently working on a strategy to set regulations. "We would like to work with him," he explained, so they could open up several places that can still work, keep many businesses open, and meet the regulations the governor setting.
What the Researchers Say
As of the middle of this week, the governor said there no timeline in sight to reopen the state. However, the University of Washington researchers have the best prediction to offer. Specifically, they say their frameworks provide a more optimistic viewpoint for California, which opens as early as May 17.
When asked about his estimated May-framework, the governor has not presented data showing that the state is still on track to tell a peak in the coming month. But the university researchers have said, California had already hit its peak in the past week.
Governor, in turn, directed the question to Dr. Mark Ghaly. Ghaly, on the other hand, said, they have in the past weeks, put out a discussion that shows how their model has runs until May 20. The doctor added, they talked about the recent weeks too, as they looked like their real and actual figures.
Experts' Warning
The press staff of the governor said the state uses a framework through the Johns Hopkins University. Dr. Ghaly elaborated, they keep on looking at the future models. However, experts caution against the use of such a model, which has significant uncertainty to come up with policy decisions.
Specifically, he said they are continuing to look at the mentioned models, although they are guided through the exact figures that they are currently seeing. More so, Dr. Ghaly shared, they are depending on the actual number of cases, as well as hospitalizations as they are planning for the date of the reopening.
Incidentally, Gov. Newsom recently said, an addition of more than 80 people died due to COVID-19 since his last public address on Tuesday afternoon. However, hospitalizations have seen a minimal 0.2-percent decrease, and ICU confinements fell by 1.8 percent.
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