In a sign of good news for residents of the Whittier Area, the number of daily cases in the Whittier has declined, with only two exceptions and has flatlined in other parts of the Whittier Area even as they continue to sky rocket in the rest of Los Angeles County.
The news is not all good however, while Whittier Area death rates remain well below the county's there were 4 COVID 19 caused deaths in the City of Whittier on Saturday and one in West Whittier/Los Nietos for a total of 5 in the Whittier Area.
Los Angeles County has imposed a draconian overkill measure that may cause more harm than good in its effort to bring stop its COVID surge. It recently banned even outdoor dining including in cases where tables are ten feet apart and the number of people allowed at any given time has been limited. They are even threatening to ban religious services, which might be tad bit difficult for the county to do when one considers the recent US Supreme Court ruling which struck down the use of COVID 19 as a justification for banning or restricting religious services unreasonably. Local governments around the country are likely to be careful on that front because the ruling requires them to make sure the COVID 19 regulations they apply to churches are exactly the same as those applied to non religious businesses. Los Angeles County officials have blamed religious services for most of the spread of COVID 19 but have exempted mass pro communist protests where large numbers of people are hanging out very close to each other and at least half are not wearing masks and people at those protests are not required to wear masks. The goal of the protests is to overthrow the US Constitution. There have also been protests regarding social justice and large pro Trump gatherings. Large numbers of people were not wearing masks at either of the two events.
The Whittier City Council so far has been the only official local government to weigh in on the overly restrictive nature of Los Angeles County's new orders. LA County is now threatening a new COVID 19 lockdown. In its most recent meeting, the Whittier City Council unanimously criticized the new restrictions imposed by Los Angeles County, particularly as they relate to restaurants and councilmembers noted that the county could have taken less restrictive measures such as limiting the number of diners or requiring clear plastic barriers between tables. The matter has now reached the point where Whittier is considering leaving the jurisdiction of the county health department and either working with neighbors to set up an alternative health authority or contracting with Orange County though the latter option could present some problems as the City's Attorney explained during the meeting.
This is not the first time that Whittier residents have flirted with seceding from LA County agency, during the 90's there was some talk of seceding from the county altogether due to tax issues and unfunded social mandates. We will have to wait and see where the discussions go. For the unincorporated areas such as West Whittier or South Whittier to be included they would first have to be annexed into the city before any such move takes place otherwise the Whittier Area will then be divided between two different public health authorities. A couple of the Area's unincorporated areas have local area council type bodies that look after affairs in their area and raise them with their county representative. Unincorporated communities that don't have such bodies to speak for them should consider establising one or consider incorporating themselves. Hacienda Heights once was one vote away from becoming a city called North Whittier Heights for example, back in the late 60's to early 70's. The county not only rejected their bid for cityhood but passed a law actually requiring them to change their name to Hacienda Heights. The referendum was rejected by the county because of corrupt and shady dealings by the person who was chosen by the community to lead the effort. However the manner in which the county is mishandling the COVID 19 crises is likely to cause many of the Whittier Area's unincorporated communities to take a second look at either incorporating into a new city or joining a neighboring city.
Now there is some good news on the science front. According to Science Magazine, immunity COVID 19 may actually last at least 6 months if not longer and the resistance to COVID 19 could be extended with the new vaccines that have already been approved with support from Operation Warp Speed, a program set in place earlier this year by outgoing President Trump though extremist Democrats have refused to recognize or accept the role that Operation Warp speed has played in the vaccine's development due to the program's connection to Trump. The companies have said their breakthroughs were made possible by support they received from Operation Warp Speed however. Whether Trump gets any credit is for the history books to decide. Near term, liberal written texts are likely to ignore any role played by Trump but future historians, a century from now are likely to restore Trump's place in the development of the vaccines. Researchers say that according to their newest findings, the immune of COVID survivors are emerging stronger and more efficient from their fight with COVID 19 than they were before encountering the SARS- COV 2 virus. According to science news site, the proteins used by human immune systems "have sharpened their skills at fighting the coronavirus". According to Science Magazine, "Six months after an infection with the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, called SARS-CoV-2, people appear to have built an arsenal of antibodies that are not only more potent than the ones developed early on, similar to what has been seen in other infections. Those antibodies can also recognize mutated versions of the virus, researchers found." That would indicate the anti bodies are effective against even newly mutated versions of the virus.
The top 5 communities with the highest number of new cases:
City of Whittier 51 new cases
City of Pico Rivera 35 new cases
City of La Habra 34 new cases
South Whittier 32 new cases
West Whittier/Los Nietos 18 new cases
The top 5 positivity ratios:
La Habra Heights 67.65% (this percentage continues to decline as more residents are tested)
Avocado Heights 19.33%
Pellisier Village 18.84%
Sunrise Village 17.94%
Whittier Narrows 17.86%
As you can see the positivity rates throughout the Whittier Area appear to be declining, at least for Saturday.
The top 5 death ratios for those who test positive for COVID 19:
City of Industry 4%
Rose Hills/Spyglass Region 3.09%
North Whittier 3%
City of La Habra 2.53%
City of Pico Rivera 2.43%
It appears the death ratio also went down, at least temporarily, for Whittier Area communities on Saturday.
The decline in the numbers is most likely the result of local residents being allowed to make their down decisions with the information being made available to them and continues to show that voluntary systems are more effective than compulsory systems of compliance.
Our best weapon against COVID19 is not curfews, lockdowns, or suspensions of constitutional rights but a public education outreach campaign which the state and county have both failed to engaged in properly and that lack of public education outreach is the primary cause of their failure to get a handle on the virus. Americans have traditionally reaction to being talked down to or treated as they were too dumb or incompetent to take care of themselves and their families and we are starting to see that reaction in terms of the new lockdowns and curfews.
In the meantime we are waiting for this week's data report which give us a bigger picture. It looks like the death rate might be up just a little bit.
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