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Good News Real News Making Communities Better Through Print.™ VOL. CIV, NO. XVII
WEDNESDAY, MAY 6, 2020
PHASE ONE
LIFE, Liberty
Wine Tasting is Included in Phase One Questions rise regarding reopening of the community
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LOCAL NEWS
BUSINESS
Barrel Creek Proposes ‘Destination Entertainment’
and the
Pursuit of Happiness
By NICHOLAS MATTSON nic@atascaderonews.com SAN LUIS OBISPO COUNTY — Following the State’s press conference on Monday, in which Governor Gavin Newsom illuminated partial details of the plan to reopen California, the County of San Luis Obispo presented local information at the regularly scheduled briefing. SLO County Public Health Officer Dr. Penny Borenstein presented the current statistics for the county and provided clarification on the information released in the SLO County START Guide. Over the weekend, including a single case reported Monday, there were a total of 14 new cases in SLO County. Two of the seven hospitalizations were discharged, leaving five in the hospital, including three in the ICU. Of the 202 total cases confirmed since testing began, 156 are deemed fully recovered. As of last week, the parameters for “fully recovered” were extended from seven days with no symptoms to 10 days — which effectively slows the reporting of recovered cases. Currently, 40 cases are recovering from home. As testing increases, and positive case counts increase, the metric of health that the county officials will focus on is hospitalizations and critical care. “We are hopeful that we will retain the low number we have in our critical care and our hospitals,” Borenstein said. Monday, the two new testing sites began — Paso Robles and Grover Beach — delivering up to 264 tests daily during 12 hours of operation. The increase in testing is expected to produce an increase in positive case counts. “Because we are expanding our testing, we may well see positive cases coming out,” Borenstein said. “We said we would be looking at the number of cases, but more importantly, the severity of cases and our hospitalization rates.” With preventative measures in place, increased testing, and healthcare capacity at hospitals, the State emerges from its shelter and with that causes a bit of confusion over what businesses are considered safe to open, at what capacity. As the SLO County START Guide remains a “living document” through the process, definitions and clarifications are expected. The gradual and balanced approach to reopening will necessitate busi-
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tarting 2020, whispers of an epidemiological nightmare vibrated out of the other side of the world. When I was growing up, I was told if you dig straight down, you’ll end up in China. The statement always conjured up images of burrowing out of the dirt in China like Bugs Bunny, upside down. Well, the world certainly turned upside down quickly as COVID-19 spread outward from China. In California, we’ll know it as Friday the 13th — the second week of March — when the roar came from local institutions and government agencies. “Shut it down! Shut it down! Coronavirus is here!” SHELTERING We did shut it down. We didn’t know enough about the disease to argue. What we did know had too many holes to push back. Did it affect the healthy? Did it infect the young? Was it worse than the flu? Would it be more deadly? We just didn’t know enough to know anything, and either did the experts. Our response was fear. We did as we were asked. We sheltered. We washed our hands and stayed home, wondering with every randomly scratchy breath if we had somehow become infected by some novel disease. We were afraid but didn’t really know what we were afraid of. Just 50 days later, we know more. We have mountains of data. Much of it needs to be parsed and presented, and many early models are equivalent to shooting from the hip instead of making data relevant to the variety of circumstances needed for knowledgable application. What the data says in respect to Italy’s new normal is irrelevant to what the data says in reference to New York’s new normal, and irrelevant to what the data says regarding SLO County. A national shortage in PPE was never the same thing as a shortage of PPE in SLO County. The disease impacted acute groups around the planet very differently, and national strategies all employed some form of “lockdown.” Even Sweden, despite many assumptions, placed gradually expanding restrictions. Some countries employed strict lockdowns. The United States acted moderately in comparison.
Each society acted according to its laws and traditions. The U.S. acted according to its Constitution, and the 50-day shelter orders presented a clash of interpretations that remain unresolved. We all voluntarily sheltered, and patience ran out more quickly for some than others. Some began receiving unemployment benefits that exceeded what they were making in a 40-hour workweek. Some went from gainfully employed to no income. Some watched their 401K sink by 30 percent. The economy tanked as we paused. We waited for real news. Nationally, we got antics, performances, and melodrama. Locally, our County health and administration officers faced the music and did their jobs. Compared to other places, even in California, our officials put on a world-class performance in dealing with a global pandemic on San Luis Obispo County soil. Reports from experts around the world continue to conflict, trying to provide clarity on a global level about a virus that impacts communities very differently is an exercise in futility, and breeds local discord as people argue irrelevant points in ongoing confirmation bias. So, data isn’t going to solve our problems with COVID-19, even as it presents a pathway to reopening. Sure, we don’t know everything about the disease. But we know enough. We will be living with it, not exterminating it. Just how we live with it will be an ongoing debate, we just don’t
THE UPS AND DOWNS AND UPS The world has been affected by COVID-19, and we will continue this journey together. In the first days of shelter, we all knew businessas-usual was over. The optimism of 2020 was whisked away like the smog over Los Angeles after a week of shelter. Based on the data we had, we accepted that we were voluntarily plunging the world economy into an unprecedented crisis to save as many lives as we could. We knew we were sacrificing the economy. We did it anyway. I don’t know that most of us would have done anything differently, given a chance to do it all again. We were saving the vulnerable, most specifically, the aged — well, trying anyway. It worked, if you are looking at statistics. It failed if you are looking at an individual life, and those who loved and relied on them. We’ve lost tens of thousands of lives in the U.S. to COVID19, and we lose tens of thousands of lives every week to other causes. COVID-19 is now just one of those causes, and according to the first 50 days, will be one of the top causes of death in the U.S. — ranking with heart disease (no. 1) and cancer (no. 2).
ATASCADERO — On Tuesday, April 28, the Atascadero City Council discussed the intent and purposes of a proposed project named Barrel Creek that would build on the northwest corner of the US 101 and Del Rio Road interchange. The property was characterized by the designer and developer as a “destination entertainment venue” built for artisans, restaurants and residents. The property is currently the location of the Legacy Church (formerly First Assembly) food service program and location of the First Assembly harvest festivals in years past. The rolling elevation of the area restricts a broad variety of developments, and the developer Eric Tienken with RRM Design Group principal Scott Martin presented a multi-use concept that included a boutique hotel, shortterm rentals, apartments, townhomes, and restaurant-retail. Atascadero City Development Director Phil Dunsmore presented the project to the council and public, discussing how the project fits into an amended Del Rio specific plan and ultimately an amended general plan. In order to move forward with the project, which will require a rezoning of six lots from residential to a mixed-use zoning that would allow for hundreds of residents and visitors to the Del Rio and San Ramon area. “It is a huge increase in density, which is why it is a huge ask,” councilperson Charles Bourbeau said. “I guess I’m impressed by these drawings. The concern is how it plays out for the existing residents on San Ramon.” The project has not been formally submitted for permits from the City, and the discussion surrounded providing the applicant feedback to prepare for the costs and planning associated with developing a project of this scale. “I want to make sure it is complementary to the community,” councilperson Heather Newsom said. “I think it is important to tie [the neighborhood] into the project, but the developers have shown they are willing to work with the residents.” Specifics in the project are still working at a high level of design and detail, and drilling down into the project over time is expected to clarify
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COVID-19 deaths worldwide since Wuhan’s December breakout. Worldwide, without COVID-19, there are almost 160,000 daily deaths of all causes. COVID-19 is credited for 1.3 percent of the daily death toll around the world. In the U.S. where we have 2.8 million deaths per year, COVID-19 now accounts for 2.5 percent of the annual death toll. It’s significant. This is a pandemic, and we have taken it seriously, but in the United States, poverty was credited for 4.5 percent of deaths in 2019. There was no national emergency for poverty, no executive orders — in fact, in fear of coronavirus, the nation opted to bet on poverty as the lesser of two evils. The results of that bet are not yet known. The dice are still rolling. Ironically, COVID-19 disproportionately threatens poverty-stricken communities. It may seem morbid or coldly analytical to begin to run this pandemic by the numbers, but it is actually the way that governments are making decisions. It is the way governments always make decisions. Did you fill out your 2020 Census survey?
We were caught between two things we love — enjoying our freedom and enterprise, and protecting the lives of those we love.
SPORTS
know for how long. Some expect a resurgence. Not a single expert knows exactly what that means. So, without knowledge, we return to fear. Some models project millions of deaths, just as was predicted by now at the beginning. Those projections lend to stoking fears and division. Facts bring us back together. THE COLD NUMBERS As of today, there are recorded 255,000
OPINION
By NICHOLAS MATTSON nic@atascaderonews.com
AGRICULTURE
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CENTRAL COAST Chambers support S.T.A.R.T. Guide for reopening | A3
34 ACTIVITIES Californians CHECK IN With local voices can participate in while still and discover shared opinions observing quarantine | A4 on current events | A5
SLO SAFE RIDE Donates Talley Farms boxes to healthcare workers | A12
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