Oakland Could Become Next Epicenter as Crowds Party on Streets
Despite warnings and orders to stay at home, some California residents have chosen to party with hundreds of their friends and neighbors instead.
While New York remains the epicenter of the American outbreak of COVID-19, reckless behavior on the West Coast may soon see California given the grim designation.
As San Francisco’s KTVU reported, Oakland police say that about 450 people opted to violate the state’s “shelter-in-place” order to participate in “disruptive and illegal behavior.”
Sunday during our sideshow enforcement 3 people were arrested 14 others cited & 12 vehicles towed. Roughly 450 people took part in this disruptive and illegal behavior. Special thanks to “ARGUS” our police helicopter which played a major role. Weekend enforcement will continue. pic.twitter.com/L8zxE2bSJI
— Oakland Police Dept. (@oaklandpoliceca) March 30, 2020
Revelers mingled and watched as drivers conducted stunts with cars in the middle of the street.
Video from the spontaneous gathering shows people without face masks clearly breaking the six-feet social-distance spacing guidelines recommended by health officials and other experts.
Considering how easily the novel coronavirus jumps from human to human, there’s little doubt that a single infectious person in this crowd could have spread the disease to dozens.
Judging by the blatant disregard for simple social-distancing guidelines, this party likely won’t be the last large social gathering many of these people attend.
Additional video footage of the street parties appears to show more of the same — unprepared or unaware people too close to one another during a pandemic:
https://www.instagram.com/p/B-VoidXAALS/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading
A surge in cases may be exactly what California’s Democratic leadership is hoping for, however.
Gov. Gavin Newsom recently said he hopes the deadly COVID-19 outbreak will be a chance to “reshape the way we do business and how we govern.”
It’s unclear why California wasn’t able to shape its own government under the progressive leadership of the Democratic Party — a group that has controlled the state for nearly a decade.
Newsom isn’t alone in his push for a seemingly Democrat-led restructuring of wealth and class.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced the creation of a new committee to oversee the distribution of the roughly $2 trillion relief package, a congressional group that is already becoming a political force with subpoena powers of its own.
A surge of coronavirus cases in California would threaten to buckle the state’s welfare and health care systems, setting the stage for Democrats to play the blame game against President Donald Trump and begin enacting their reforms.
If the crowds gathered in Oakland to party are any indication, the upcoming weeks could be rough for California.
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