Fresno retail shutdown proposal to slow COVID-19 spread gets pushback. Will it pass?
A proposed Fresno City Council ordinance that would lead to a shutdown of all retail for at least five days could be reviewed this week — though the idea seems unlikely to pass.
Proposed by Councilmember Luis Chavez, the ordinance would give the city the power to fine shops from $1,000 to $10,000 if they remain open despite the emergency order.
The idea is that a five-day shutdown would go immediately into effect when Fresno County health officials notify the city that no more beds are available in intensive care units. Chavez said Monday that could happen in as soon as a week if current trends hold. He couldn’t be immediately reached on Tuesday.
Councilmembers Garry Bredefeld, Paul Caprioglio and Mike Karbassi said Tuesday they would not support the proposal as it’s written. An emergency ordinance like the one proposed needs five votes to pass, meaning those three “no” votes would kill it.
All three said the proposal doesn’t have any supporting data to prove a shutdown would help fight the coronavirus.
“The last thing we need is for us to make decisions with emotions without data,” Karbassi said.
The council will need to vote on the ordinance before it could go into place, and it remained unclear on Tuesday when the council could call a special meeting.
Councilmember Miguel Arias would not say how he will be voting but said the city needs to have a serious discussion about mitigating the spread of the coronavirus, noting the strained health care system.
The council’s coronavirus committee was briefed Monday by Fresno County health officials, Arias said. “It was the most sobering briefing we’ve received to date,” he said. “It is what we’ve been dreading since the pandemic began.”
The county’s morgues are full, funeral homes are backed up and the county has now ordered the rationing of ambulance responses, he said.
“This is the first look of the health care system collapsing before our eyes,” Arias said. “We shouldn’t be rationing health care services so a small group of people can continue to have the convenience of shopping in person.”
Health officials have pointed to family gatherings or other social engagements at private homes as a driver of infections of COVID-19. Holidays and long weekends have been a major culprit.
The council previously took heat from angry residents when they considered an ordinance that could lead to citations for large backyard parties amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Caprioglio said the new proposal is “too little too late” and would not get his vote. “There’s nothing that shows this will be effective,” he said. “You can’t legislate reason, logic and common sense of people in terms of following the rules.”
The council is not scheduled to meet again until Jan. 7, but the members could call a special meeting before then.
Fresno County got a grim No. 1 national ranking this week for metro areas where the coronavirus pandemic is spreading the fastest, according to an analysis Monday from the New York Times.
Councilmember Esmeralda Soria said Tuesday she had not made up her mind but was leaning toward supporting the proposal.
“I’m very open to the conversation about how our community that’s No. 1 in the surge gets a handle on what’s going on,” she said. “We have a hospital system that is overwhelmed.”
Soria noted that many past arguments have said orders to close have hit small businesses harder than big box stores. So maybe it’s time to close the big box stores too, she said.
Bredefeld has been the most ardent opponent of orders passed by the council. The new proposal had no chance of getting his vote, he said.
He said the solution to Fresno’s coronavirus response lies in the arrival of vaccines, as well as an increase of beds and medical staff.
“The bottom line is lockdowns just don’t work,” he said. “We’ve had a lockdown for nine or 10 months. Lockdowns don’t work.”
