What Will Life Be Like After COVID-19 and When?

Americans didn’t know how long WWII would last or how many lives it would take but they knew exactly what victory meant: the unconditional surrender of its enemies. To heighten morale amid casualty telegrams and mandatory rationing, newsreels and magazines described a “post war world” offering amazing devices including radio with pictures and labor saving home appliances.  And thousands of those post-war homes were built on former bean fields that became East Long Beach suburbia.

The now-ongoing battle against COVID-19 has been likened to a war. It has already had casualties, is expected to bring more and it’s unclear long it will last. However unlike WWII, it’s not yet clear what victory means and it’s very unclear what life will be like when that victory comes. 

On April 15, Dr. Barbara Ferrer (who heads L.A. County’s Dept. of Public Health and delivers what amount to daily COVID-19 casualty reports) offered her assessment of the immediate future:

“We will continue to need distancing requirements and directives in many months to come,” she said. “We have to be able to continue our containment measures and even strengthen them...” Although Long Beach has a separately run Health Department and doesn’t have to follow L.A. County’s commands, Long Beach has generally tried to remain consistent with most of L.A. County’s health policies. For that reason, what Dr. Ferrer described may foreshadow what Long Beach City Hall may seek to implement.

“I want to note that things will be very different,” Dr. Ferrer said. “Physical distancing will still be a very important part of recovery and I want to give some examples of what this might look like”:

“More retail shops will be opened at some point in the near future but there will be limits on how many people can be in a store at any given time so that people who are there can maintain a lot of distance between themselves, other people who are there and employees.”

“Our arts and cultural settings will reopen at some point in the future but events may be spectator-free and exhibitions will require again physical distancing, meaning that there will be many fewer people that will be able to view any installations at a given time.”

And the trails and the bike paths, when they’re able to be reopened, they may need to be one way so that people can keep physical distance from one another.”

 “And you will see infection-control practices, like hand washing, wearing cloth face coverings and physical distancing required at all of our public places and spaces...”

“Some locations you may even see that they’re taking people’s temperature before they’re entering a facility to ensure that people are fever-free and symptom-free.”

So how long will that go on? There’s push back on current restrictions already.

On April 16, echoing a stance voiced by President Trump, Long Beach Parks & Recreation Commissioner Ben Goldberg took to Facebook to urge Long Beach city officials to consider re-opening LB golf courses, parks and beaches and let some Long Beach businesses reopen by early May, in both cases applying CDC guidelines.

Writing in his individual capacity (not as a mayor-chose/council-approved commission appointee), Goldberg called for re-opening golf courses (with social distancing for users, gloves for employees and no golf carts) and said the city should “consider opening all parks and beaches with CDC guidelines.”

He urged the City Council, mayor and Parks and Recreation director to consider letting businesses “like salons, spas, dentists, chiropractors, out patient/elective medical procedures, dealerships, retailers” reopen with CDC guidelines by May 4, 2020, saying the majority of LB businesses can be responsible in doing so by that date. He said the city should allow this whether or not Gov. Newsom “insists on delaying [removal of restrictions on] restaurants, bars, large public gatherings, gyms and access to nursing homes for a little longer.”

In his April 16 Facebook message, Goldberg said “Waiting too long to reopen businesses and parks with the low numbers of LB citizens impacted by COVID-19 could cause more harm than the disease itself.” And he added: “I’m hearing rumblings from normally very moderate and stable people that they are ready to ‘take to the streets’ if this goes on much longer.” He continued: “we [also] need to consider the potential for increased suicide, domestic violence and crime on the streets, if things don’t open up soon.”

In Sacramento, Governor Gavin Newsom has voiced caution over lifting CA’s restrictions too quickly but at the same time announced creation of a “Task Force” headed by former Democrat Presidential candidate Tom Steyer to help fashion a CA plan to begin lifting restrictions. Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia has echoed Governor Newsom’s approach with a local Task Force headed by former Mayor Bob Foster to recommend ways the city should re-open while leaving a timeline to Sacramento.

Meanwhile Long Beach resident Jesus Cisneros (who entered the March 2020 2nd district City Council race and finished last) has indicated he’s planning a May 1 protest march in downtown Long Beach against COVID-19 “stay at home” restrictions. Cisneros, who writes on “Instagram” as “the.right.latino” and describes himself as a “conservative influencer / Man of God, nationalist / constitutionalist,” has uploaded a graphic touting a “Liberate Long Beach” event coupled with text stated in pertinent part:

“Join the March against total government control. We aren’t allowed to have our businesses open, we aren’t allowed to work to feed our familiar, we aren’t allowed to go to church, we aren’t allowed to take our kids to the beach or the park! No more! We live in a free country!

Cisneros wrote that the Long Beach event “is not a Democrat, Republican or a Progressive march,” but his announcement followed an April 17 event that drew roughly 200 people to Huntington Beach, some carrying “Trump in 2020” signs, in calling for lifting CA’s COVID-19 restrictions. President Trump has also encouraged residents of other states to “liberate” their states from their Democrat governors’ COVID-19 restrictions.

At an April 20 media briefing, Mayor Garcia said the city respects demonstrators’ First Amendment rights but will enforce LB’s COVID-19 Health Department orders on gatherings in public spaces and wearing facial coverings.

He said the city’s actions will be guided by science and data, not by “political pressure or ... a group of folks holding signs on a corner.

Bill Pearl publishes LBReport.com, online for 20 years.