There has been a huge increase in the number of Whittier Area residents infected with the SARS-COV 2 virus this week. The Whittier Area, all together, had 3,839 new infections with the virus this week.
The top 5 gains in new infections this past week which ended on Saturday, December 12, 2020:
Pico Rivera- 831 new infections
City of Whittier-724 new infections
South Whittier- 607 new infections
La Habra- 354 new infections
Hacienda Heights- 323 new infections
Those top 5 communities account for 2,839 of the 3,839 new infections this week. That means that 74% of all Whittier Area new SARS COV 2 infections were in just those 5 communities.
There was also 28 new COVID 19 caused deaths during the week ending December 12, 2020. A plurality of those were in the City of Whittier which lost 11 residents to COVID 19 this past week. Hacienda Heights and La Mirada each lost 4 residents to COVID 19. South Whittier and West Whittier/Los Nietos both lost 3 residents to the virus. Santa Fe Springs lost 2 residents. Pico Rivera lost only one resident to COVID 19 this week. The City of Whittier made up 39% of Whittier Area COVID 19 deaths. More than any other Whittier Area Community.
When looking at the weekly positivity ratios, we find that the percentage of test takers in 17 out of 18 or 94% of Whitter Area Communities has gone up while it went down in just one, La Habra. In La Habra it declined slightly from 8.47% to 8.45% which can be statistically insignificant.
A huge part of the problem, as expressed by the former speaker of the California State Assembly is that Californians, even local Whittier Area residents, are ignoring everything the government, public health officials, medical practitioners and even their own friends, family and neighbors are telling them about the virus. What is left to do when everyone has repeated the same message about wearing masks, keeping your distance, and only doing what you absolutely need to do outside your home?
The residents of the Whittier Area dealing with multiple other crises besides COVID 19, including hunger and people are now being evicted from their homes because they could pay their rent or their mortgages. All will need to be dealt with simultaneously but Trump is unlikely to approve any assistance to Whittier Area residents or other Americans grappling with these crises. When the assistance does begin to arrive it is essential that each community ensures that everyone in their community, regardless of background or legal status gets a fair and equal access to the aid because if one person is left out, that is a threat to everyone else in the community. The community's resilience against hunger, homelessness, and COVID is only as strong as the weakest members of those communities. We are past the time for debating the role of Trump and political parties on COVID 19. We are at the point where legislators and executives can either help with the problems we all face or they can get the hell out of the way before the community bulldozes over them.
The government cannot punish people for not doing their part in this crises but private citizens and privately owned businesses sure can and they sure as hell should. It would of course be easier to support closing of local businesses if there was aid being made available for those businesses and their employees and right now it looks like government and those we have just elected are just kicking them to the curb.
We ask again what is local and state government doing to help their local businesses and what they doing to help their constituents who are facing starvation and homelessness? Is there a point to asking what the feds are doing? The entire federal government, and both the Democratic and Republican parties have been massive failures when it comes to helping Americans in these multiple crises.
The numbers are too high. If you want your neighbors to treat like an adult then may be you should act like an adult and make adult decisions instead of using the crises to just running around screaming "F this president" or "F that president". It's time to stop being part of the problem and start being part of the solution. If you continue to ignore the numbers and continue irresponsibly carry about with the whole "F your neighbors" attitude, those same neighbors have a right as private citizens to hold you accountable for selfishly endangering them and their families.
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