What Gavin Newsom is doing to enforce his mask order without mandatory fines
As California’s COVID-19 numbers continue to tick upward at a concerning rate, the state is poised to launch a million-dollar, multimedia ad campaign urging the public to wear a mask.
Gov. Gavin Newsom unveiled the campaign, along with two sample ads, during a press conference on Thursday.
The campaign will “focus on messages that we think can hit home in traditional ways, more emotional ways and again in messages that people can understand in Arabic, in Cantonese, in Mandarin, in Vietnamese and other languages, and clearly Spanish,” he said. “We need to have a deeper conversation about how to safely reopen. That’s what this public education campaign is all about.”
One ad he previewed depicts a hospitalized patient with COVID-19 breathing with the assistance of a ventilator as the screen says “Even without symptoms you can spread COVID-19, and people can die.” A Spanish-language video says, “A little piece of cloth shows that you care about others. Please wear a mask.”
It’s one of several efforts Newsom said he has launched to enforce a statewide mask order that some Californians are disregarding – or actively opposing – as the coronavirus spreads significantly throughout the state.
Broadcast and radio public service announcements will be distributed in English and Spanish to local media affiliates, including Univision, Telemundo and Ethnic Media Services.
Newsom said that the state has received $10.75 million in charitable giving, along with $27 million in in-kind contributions, to launch the campaign. Billboards were going up Thursday afternoon.
The ad campaign comes at a moment of critical concern for the state: California saw 4,056 new cases over the last 24 hours. The positivity rate, the rate of people who test positive for COVID-19 out of all those tested, has climbed upward to 6.3 percent over the last 14 days, 6.9 percent over the last seven days.
Hospitalizations are up 56 percent over the last two weeks, while COVID-19-related intensive care unit visits are up 49 percent.
Newsom said 73 people died from the disease over the last 24 hours.
The campaign also comes as the state braces for Fourth of July weekend, with Newsom and other state officials urging the public to stay home and avoid crowded places.
The governor on Wednesday announced that 19 counties would roll back their re-openings due to the rise in COVID-19 cases, prohibiting indoor dining and re-closing movie theaters and cardrooms.
At the press conference to promote the pro-mask ad campaign, Newsom was asked several times why the state hasn’t taken action to sanction people who choose to flout the mask order, such as by issuing a citation.
Newsom said local jurisdictions have a role and responsibility to play in enforcement, but said the state budget put in place a way for him to hold them accountable for their performance. He now has the ability to withhold a total of $2.5 billion in financial aid to local jurisdictions that don’t follow state guidelines to limit the spread of the disease.
The Democratic governor said the state also has deployed multi-agency strike teams, including agencies such as the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board and the California Highway Patrol, to six strategic parts of the state to crack down.
https://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article243965102.html
https://www.gov.ca.gov/2020/07/02/governor-newsom-launches-wear-a-mask-public-awareness-campaign-in-response-to-surge-in-covid-19-cases/