California Gov Newsom blasts beachgoers amid coronavirus lockdown saying ‘disease doesn’t take weekends’

CALIFORNIA Gov. Gavin Newsom blasted residents crowding beaches amid the pandemic, warning that “this virus doesn’t take weekends off.

His warning came as pictures from the weekend showed people crowding on to the beaches in the midst of the COVID-19 outbreak.

Newsom issued a warning to people that if they continue to crowd beaches – as seen in Orange County and Ventura County – or take other actions that risk spreading the virus, it will cause cases to increase and destroy social distancing progress.

“This virus doesn’t take the weekends off, this virus doesn’t go home because it’s a beautiful sunny day around our coasts,” the Democratic Governor said during a news conference Monday.

Newsom’s warning came as pictures taken at beaches over the weekend emerged, showing people crowding on to the sand.

“Those images are an example of what not to see, people, what not to do if we’re going to make the meaningful progress that we’ve made in the last few weeks extend into the next number of weeks,” Newsom said.

“The reality is we are just a few weeks away, not months away, from making measurable and meaningful changes to our stay-at-home order.”

“That is a very optimistic point to emphasize,” he added.

California, like much of the U.S., has been under a stay-at-home order for over a month due to the virus outbreak.

Newsom issued a stay-at-home order on March 19, warning that as many as 25 million Californians could become infected with COVID-19 if no action were taken.

California has confirmed more than 44,000 cases as of Monday night, with more than 1,700 deaths.

Across the U.S., more than one million people have been infected with the virus, and over 50,000 people have died.

As protests continue across much of the U.S., states are preparing to open in coming weeks.

Orange County Executive Officer Frank Kim said from what he saw, that the pictures showed families maintaining social distance while enjoying the sun.

Newsom said at the news conference he respects “local decision making,” but warned that if people are not careful, it will cause cases to rise.

“But I cannot impress upon people more, that the only thing that will set us back is our behavior,” he added.

The California Gov. said that the decision to begin ending lockdowns “driven by data” and “driven by behavior.”

“I cannot impress upon you more, to those Californians watching, that we can’t see the images like we saw, particularly on Saturday in Newport Beach and elsewhere, in the state of California,” he added.

Newport officials are planning to meet tomorrow, to discuss the possibility of closing beaches over coming weekends or taking other actions to limit the traffic there.

Newsom said also tomorrow, he will release a plan that will outline how the state will begin to re-open in the coming weeks.

The California Gov.’s warning came as haunting pictures show how social distancing guidelines being relaxed in San Francisco after the curve was flattened led to a resurgence of cases in a matter of weeks.