5/15/20

Today I spent the better part of the day taking portraits for the blog. Penny got her run and in order to save time we got dinner at Burger King. I had a whopper and Penny had chicken nuggets

County health officials reported three new cases of COVID-19 today bringing the county’s total to 240 cases. One less person is in the hospital as of Friday. There are now two hospitalized patients, and both are in the ICU. Health officials say 46 people are recovering at home and 191 people have recovered. San Luis Obispo County has had one death attributed to COVID-19. All three of the newly reported cases are in Paso Robles. Health officials report that 2,327 coronavirus tests have been conducted at the public health lab, and another 3,935 tests have been conducted at private labs.

In anticipation of the busy tourism season and in an effort to limit the spread of coronavirus, San Luis Obispo County has issued an emergency order to cap lodging occupancy rates at 50 percent. That means hotels, motels, campgrounds, RV parks, vacation rentals, and other lodging will have to reduce their usual capacity by half. County Health Officer Dr. Penny Borenstein says she believes that will allow for lodging for the essential workforce that needs to come into the community but discourage visitors from out of the area. The order goes into effect on Sunday, May 17, and will be reviewed every 14 days. In addition, county-operated campgrounds at Lopez Lake, Santa Margarita Lake, and Oceano Memorial Park will be limited to San Luis Obispo County residents only starting Monday, May 18. Dr. Borenstein said the rates of new cases in most neighboring counties are higher than they are in San Luis Obispo County, and the order is an effort to prevent people in those communities from bringing the virus to our area. She said tourism is one of the areas they are most concerned about when it comes to the spread of COVID-19. San Luis Obispo County Administrative Officer Wade Horton also announced Friday that the county’s stay-at-home order will be allowed to expire this weekend. However, the county will remain under California’s stay-at-home order, which states, “All individuals living in the State of California are currently ordered to stay home or at their place of residence, except for permitted work, local shopping or other permitted errands, or as otherwise authorized.” Since SLO County was not allowed to move forward with its START Guide plan to reopening the economy, Horton said the county will blindly follow the governor’s mandates for reopening guidance. As of today, San Luis Obispo County had a total of 240 confirmed cases of COVID-19. Forty-eight of those are considered active.

Gov. Gavin Newsom budget slash and plea for federal funding is nothing but a “facade,” Fox Nation host Tomi Lahren stated Friday. In an interview on “Fox and Friends First” Lahren accused the Democrat governor of trying to shift the blame to President Trump to get a “blue state bailout.” “This is all to put the strain on the worker so that [it]…makes President Trump look bad, [and] so that Gavin can get his blue state bailout,” she accused. “And again, I’ve been saying this for weeks: I knew exactly what was going to happen at the beginning of this coronavirus response. States like California … will cover their tracks of years if not decades of mismanagement and pass it all off as the fault of coronavirus and the pandemic when really it’s been a state that’s been failing…for years. I’m really hoping that the president holds firm on his promise not to bail out states like California,” she remarked. Lahren asserted that letting blue states suffer could only be damning politically for the president “if you don’t know anything about California.” On Thursday, Newsom proposed cutting $6.1 billion from the state’s budget to alleviate the financial hit from the pandemic. Many of the cuts come from planned expansions of safety-net programs and social services he and other Democrats sought in the upcoming budget. For example, there will be a 10 percent pay cut for state employees, $7 billion will be taken from education spending K-12, and $1.7 billion will be taken from higher education. Newsom is also allocating $125 million in relief for illegal immigrants, $753 million to a Chinese car company for unapproved N95 masks, and $3 million to supervise inmates released early due to the crisis. “Let’s remember that — that we’re spending, and the state of California is spending over $100 million a year to fund health care for illegal immigrants. Not to mention the coronavirus relief package that came at $125 million [and] will probably be increased $75 million of which is California taxpayer dollars going to fund relief for illegal immigrants,” Lahren pointed out. Lahren told the “Friends First” hosts Newsom’s budget priorities were “absolutely” disheartening, citing a three-month lockdown extension that Los Angles Mayor Eric Garcetti which proved to be factually incorrect on Thursday. “You know, the people of California I believe are starting to wake up and we saw that with the Special Election on Tuesday…” she mused. “I’m not saying that it’s savable, but I am saying that I do think that some Californians are waking up. They are seeing the waste. They are seeing the mismanagement. They’re seeing the ongoing infringements by Gavin Newsom, Mayor Garcetti, and others,” Lahren concluded.

Cal Poly Business Major and music teacher is having to adapt. Now instead of giving lessons in person he is having to use Zoom to teach his students. He indicated it is harder to give lessons online because you have to get really good at giving verbal descriptions. He indicates that it is more cumbersome online since you cannot give hands on help.