Secret New Year’s Eve parties in Fresno? Big COVID-19 fines possible without warning
Despite a pandemic that has infected millions and killed thousands, nightlife promoters in Fresno have been advertising underground parties online in open defiance of health orders.
Though the health risks of going to a large gathering are high and despite more than 700 positive COVID-19 diagnoses reported in the county per day, the pandemic has not stopped some Fresno residents from attending the hosts’ illicit parties.
Some public health experts have blamed what they call “pandemic fatigue” as a reason why partygoers may attend events that could put them at risk of infection.
“The new scary monster that we do have to deal with right now is something called pandemic fatigue,” Dr. Rais Vohra, Fresno County’s interim health officer, warned in a news conference in late October. “That will create a real nightmare scenario for us if we allow our apathy, our complacency, our sense of fatigue to overwhelm all of these really good preventative strategies.”
The Fresno City Council will hold a special meeting at 4 p.m. on Thursday to discuss issuing stricter penalties to party organizers who violate the local and state mandate.
“Our practice has been to warn people first,” Councilmember Miguel Arias told The Bee on Thursday. “I suspect the council is going to be clear that any commercial party that occurs will be an automatic egregious violation and face a $10,000 fine, so we’ll skip the warning process.
“We’re investigating each of these parties that have been publicized on social media,” he added. “They’re all super-spread events by definition.”
California’s stay-at-home order affecting Fresno County and the surrounding Central Valley region went into effect on Dec. 3 and has since been renewed. The order is expected to last until the region’s ICU bed capacity meets the 15% availability requirement needed to reopen the local economy.
As of last week, the region’s ICU bed availability stood at 0% — one of the lowest in the state next to the Southern California region. Just seven beds were available countywide on Thursday for a population of about one million residents.
Businesses who defy the order could potentially face hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines, and partygoers could risk getting arrested. That’s already happening across the state, with police raiding illegal parties in Los Angeles County and state officials issuing fines to disobedient businesses. Already, some Fresno businesses have faced up to $14,000 in penalties for violating the orders.
Online flyers advertising a New Year’s Eve party reportedly hosted by DJ “808” and radio personality Yo Boy Dub has been making the rounds on social media Thursday.
However, online flyers for the New Year’s Eve event had been taken down early Thursday. A new flyer advertising a New Year’s Eve 2021 mix on the radio has been posted on Yo Boy Dub’s social media accounts instead.
Responding to a question Thursday from The Bee, DJ “808” confirmed the New Year’s Eve event would not be held.
Pandemic-related closures have hit many businesses hard, especially in the entertainment and food and drink industry.
In response to criticism for throwing the parties, DJ “808” earlier month defended other recent parties organized in Fresno, citing the financial strain the pandemic has had on young entrepreneurs like him.
“Yeah, this message is dedicated to all the people being negative about my efforts to preserve my business, when I was just trying to make some money to feed my daughter,” he wrote.
As of Thursday, there had been 65,149 Fresno County residents who have tested positive for COVID-19 since the pandemic began. Of those, 646 had died.
This story was originally published December 31, 2020 at 1:20 PM.