As the California government continues to plead with the public to stay indoors during the coronavirus pandemic, San Diego sheriff’s deputies have begun issuing citations to people who refuse to stay at home, including individuals who decided to make a beach trip.
According to Fox News, deputies with the San Diego sheriff’s office issued citations to 22 people at a local beach, including people who told the officers they were “watching the sunset” or having picnics, for violating the statewide stay-at-home order.
In a Saturday morning tweet, the sheriff’s department argued that the public should take the stay-at-home order more seriously, and seemingly invoked the beachgoers as an example of “complacency.”
“Everyone is required to stay home, except to get food, care for a relative or friend, get necessary health care or go to an essential job. [Twenty-two] people were cited near the beach,” said the sheriff department on Twitter. “Complacency is the enemy. Take social distancing more seriously to stop coronavirus.”
Everyone is required to stay home except to get food, care for a relative or friend, get necessary health care, or go to an essential job. 22 people were cited near the beach in @EncinitasGov. Complacency is the enemy. Take #socialdistancing more seriously to stop #coronavirus. pic.twitter.com/0TkRYWwNbX
— San Diego Sheriff (@SDSheriff) April 4, 2020
In a video message, Lieutenant Amber Baggs revealed that San Diego deputies have been patrolling public areas and “providing physical copies” of the public health order instructing people to remain at home.
“Now, we’ve gotten to the point where we’ve had to escalate and now we’re doing enforcement,” said Baggs. “These were not recommendations that came down, these were actual orders.”
The Los Angeles Times reported that San Diego County has issued 53 citations since the public health order took effect, each of which can impose a maximum fine of $1,000 or up to 6 months in jail.
In a statement to the LA Times, San Diego Sheriff’s office spokesperson Lieutenant Ricardo Lopez explained that the move was intended to “save lives and try and prevent our hospitals from being overburdened.”
“The time for education is over and the seriousness of the crisis is at hand,” said Lopez, reports the news agency.
The Sacramento Bee reported that public health experts at the University of Washington project that the peak of the coronavirus outbreak in California will happen on April 17, but Governor Gavin Newsom (D-CA) has said that the state will have its peak caseload later than April.
The news agency reported that the governor has declined to share why the state’s projections differ from the University of Washington’s projections.
According to NBC News, the University of Washington’s projections provide a “more optimistic picture for California,” but the modelers at the university say that the projections can change based on changing social-distancing practices.
“The trajectory of the pandemic will change — and dramatically for the worse — if people ease up on social distancing or relax with other precautions,” said professor Christopher Murray, the director of the University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation.