Letter to the Editor: Where are the leaders in this county? SLO County has a plan, let’s use it!
To the editor,
–In a variation of Henry Kissinger’s famous line… The biggest problem with Mr. Newsom is not that he doesn’t have a plan to reopen, it’s that he doesn’t know he doesn’t have a plan to reopen. SLO County has a plan, let’s use it!
Newsom said he’d make decisions based on science and data, and not politics. Well, we have the data, and the data is clear. We’ve flattened the curve which was the initial goal; our hospitals were not overrun. Our County presented him with a well-prepared plan to slowly open based on the data, and he said no. So I can only conclude his decision is politically motivated. One only needs to look at other states to understand politics are involved. All the governors have the same data, but their choosing different paths forward.
California has had about 40 times fewer deaths than Newsom predicted when this started. A large part of that was a lack of data and incorrect modeling. But we now have more data. According to New York’s detailed data, people in the age category of 0 to 64 have less than a two in one thousand chance of dying. CA isn’t NY and our entire state doesn’t need to shelter in place. We can have a plan that includes focusing on the most vulnerable, while the least vulnerable move forward.
Elon Musk is about to show Newsom that since he doesn’t have a plan the people will develop their own plan. Newsom doesn’t know it but the people are fed up with no leadership and they’re marching onward without him. He’s like a bandleader in a parade who’s on the sideline saying stop I’m afraid we may play the wrong song, and the band says the heck with you we know the song we came to play. So now he’s running alongside the band trying to catch up. He’s hoping that if he runs fast enough, and starts walking in front, people will think he’s leading again.
So, rather than Newsom allowing the SLO County to implement a smart well thought out plan, people will implement their own plan. Just look around the city, the county, the state, and the U.S., people are saying “enough”!
Where are the leaders in this county? We need them to hurry up and implement the SLO County Plan without Newsom. If a leader doesn’t step up and lead, the band will march along on its own! Businesses will just start opening up using their own plan to minimize risks, in fact some already are. Look around, more and more people are on the street starting some sort of normality.
Those who disagree, just continue to shelter in place, your risk will be minimal and you’ll feel safer.
Keith Belmont
Paso Robles
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