Press Play with Madeleine Brand
Lawmakers question wisdom of California reopening, point to blindspots in COVID-19 data
“We have not flattened the curve. We have bent the curve. But we are at a plateau of hospitalizations and certainly deaths. And the only way to go is up,” says California State Senator Steve Glazer.
By Madeleine Brand • • 8m ListenAs LA county officials continue to loosen restrictions, some California politicians aren’t onboard.
Los Angeles Assemblywoman Sydney Kamlager-Dove says, “After April 19, we saw a spike in the number of infection rates and deaths coming from low-income communities: East LA, South LA and some of the smaller cities. … Many of those folks are frontline workers. … They don’t have the luxury of working from home or remotely. Our communities ... need to be taken into consideration when we talk about reopening.”
She says hospitalization rates are dropping, but many people fear going to hospitals, and that’s not necessarily where they’re going first to get treatment.
“We need to look beneath the surface of the numbers that we were just given to talk about how we are equitably and equally going to treat the residents of this county as we’re reopening,” she says.
California State Senator Steve Glazer says there are significant blindspots in the available data.
“What is the current rate of infection? Nobody knows that. … There is no data that shows it has changed over time. … There is no data that says who’s getting infected and how are they getting infected,” he says. “We have not flattened the curve. We have bent the curve. But we are at a plateau of hospitalizations and certainly deaths. And the only way to go is up.”
