California Gov. Newsom issues lockdown order over coronavirus spike; one sheriff from a large county has already refused to enforce it



Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom issued a stay-at-home order for most of the counties in California, but one sheriff has already announced that he would not be enforcing Newsom's command.

Newsom issued the order on Thursday after a spike in coronavirus cases throughout the state.

"The virus is spreading at a pace we haven't seen since the start of this pandemic and the next several days and weeks will be critical to stop the surge. We are sounding the alarm," Newsom said. "It is crucial that we act to decrease transmission and slow hospitalizations before the death count surges. We've done it before and we must do it again."

Orange County Sheriff Don Barnes issued a statement soon after that his officers would not be enforcing the guidelines.

"Earlier today, the Orange County Sheriff's Department became aware of a limited Stay at Home Order that Governor Newsom's office ordered to go into effect on Saturday, November 21 at 10 PM. Throughout the pandemic, the Orange County Sheriff's Department has taken an education-first approach with regard to the public health orders," said Barnes in the statement.

"We are currently assessing the action by the Governor," he added.

"At this time, due to the need to have deputies available for emergency calls for service, deputies will not be responding to requests for face-coverings or social gatherings-only enforcement," Barnes concluded.

Orange County in California is the third most populous county in the state and the sixth most populous county in the United States, and it has a greater population than 21 states.

California was the first state to issue a lockdown order in March for its 40 million residents. Some restrictions had been eased as the coronavirus cases lessened, but that progress has been lost as cases spiked again.

Newsom is also battling enormous blowback after he was caught having an expensive dinner at an exclusive restaurant without wearing a mask and without following social distancing guidelines.

California legislators didn't help his cause when they were caught going to a luxury hotel in Hawaii for a conference while Californians were told they should avoid family gatherings for the holidays.

Here's more about Newsom's scandal:

COVID: Gov. Gavin Newsom Remains On Hot Seat Over French Laundry Dinner Partywww.youtube.com

Photos emerge of California Gov. Gavin Newsom dining unmasked with large party — and even CNN is criticizing the blatant hypocrisy



California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) is under fire for photos of him dining unmasked in a California restaurant amid a group of unmasked dinner guests.

What are the details?

According to a Wednesday report from the Daily Mail, witnesses at a California restaurant said that the governor — who has instituted a wide variety of lockdown measures across the state, impacting the local economy — ate inside despite his insistence that he dined outside the restaurant.

The bombshell comes amid Newsom's newly announced restrictions California families celebrating the Thanksgiving holidays, including a demand that they eat outdoors.

The outlet reported that the event was a birthday dinner party with 12 people in attendance. The dinner took place earlier this month inside what appeared to be a crowded restaurant.

KTTV-TV obtained photos of the dinner that show Newsom and others milling about the restaurant and sitting around a table with other maskless attendees.

EXCLUSIVE: We've obtained photos of Governor Gavin Newsom at the Napa dinner party he's in hot water over. The phot… https://t.co/Py6J960zE6
— Bill Melugin (@Bill Melugin)1605677199.0

One woman purporting to be a witness told the Daily Mail that she was dining at the French Laundry in Yountville, California, when she saw the governor dining in a private room with the other guests.

"She said a sliding glass door to the room was initially left open, but was pulled across because the governor and his party were being 'very loud,'" the outlet reported. "State guidelines for restaurants in place on the day of the dinner — November 6 — say outdoor seating must be 'prioritized' but indoor dining was allowed in small groups."

"Nobody was wearing a mask," the unnamed witness told the outlet. "It was a very large group of people shoulder to shoulder, something that he's always telling us not to do, so it was a bit annoying."

Newsom, through his spokesperson, previously insisted that the large dinner party took place outdoors and said on Monday that it was a "bad mistake."

"I should have stood up and ... drove back to my house," he said according to Fox News. "The spirit of what I'm preaching all the time was contradicted. I need to preach and practice, not just preach."

"I'm doing my best every single day in trying to model better behavior," he added.

What else?

On Wednesday, CNN's Chris Cillizza hit out at what he called the governor's "knuckle-headed" move.

Cillizza recounted the early November incident and wrote, "Unfortunately for Newsom, this episode of do-what-I-say-not-what-I-do is likely to negatively color his overall handling of the virus, which to this point had won plaudits from many — including me!"

"Newsom's apology was fulsome — and without the sort of 'sorry if anyone was offended' caveats that politicians love to lean on," he later wrote. "And California is one of the most Democratic states in the country, so it's unlikely that this error in judgment will seriously jeopardize Newsom's chances at a second term in 2022 or his future national political aspirations. (And trust me, he has future national political aspirations.)"

"But for someone who had been leading the charge on what effective government response to this pandemic looked like, Newsom's knuckle-headed decision to defy his own best practices is a bad look," Cillizza concluded. "A very bad look."

According to the Los Angeles Times, Jerry Roberts — the San Francisco Chronicle's former managing editor — added, "The tale of the governor indulging at one of the nation's most exclusive and expensive restaurants (average meal $325) — while millions of Californians are scuffling amid the pandemic's economic fallout — truly represents a real bad look."

While governor locks down California over virus spike, lawmakers are flying to a conference at a luxury hotel in Hawaii



California Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a statement Monday that the state would return to far more restrictive social guidelines over a rise in coronavirus cases on the same day that state lawmakers were found to be planning to attend a luxury conference in Hawaii.

"This is simply the fastest increase California has seen since the beginning of this pandemic," Newsom said. "Every age group, every demographic, racial, ethnic, in every part of the state we are seeing case rates increase and positivity rates increase as well."

But the announcement juxtaposed poorly with a report that California lawmakers were planning to attend a conference this week at a luxury hotel in Hawaii hosted by the Independent Voter Project.

"Hawaii has established a very detailed, safe travel program, and Independent Voter Project wanted to be able to take advantage of that," IVP chairman and executive director Dan Howle told the San Francisco Chronicle.

The conference would allow lawmakers from California, Texas, and Washington state to discuss policy issues while schmoozing with corporate lobbyists.

Many thought the two stories manifested the hypocrisy of privileged political leaders issuing orders that severely restrict their constituents while enjoying luxury accommodations for themselves.

"Unbelievable. Will the hypocrisy ever end from our elected leaders?" responded KTLA reporter Bill Melugin.

"First [House Speaker] Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) w/ the hair salon, then Gov. Newsom w/ his private dinner with his lobbyist buddy, now we have CA lawmakers at a conference in Hawaii while YOU are told to stay home," he added.

Melugin was referring to an embarrassing report from the San Francisco Chronicle that Newsom had been caught attending a ritzy dinner party at one the most exclusive restaurants in the world. Newsom admitted in a statement to the Chronicle that he should not have attended the dinner, even if they had followed the social distancing guidelines required.

Here's more about the coronavirus travel advisory in California:

California Issues Travel Advisory as COVID-19 Cases Surge | NBCLAwww.youtube.com