A man pounded on the window of the Sun office early Monday morning, yelling that the paper had better report on the lockdown.
Many people can relate to his frustration. It all seems so familiar—because this isn’t the first go-around for anyone in California.
The latest major lockdown of the pandemic came to Southern California at a minute before midnight on Sunday, Dec. 6. The order was issued late last week, but was set to go into effect when available ICU beds in one of five “regions” dropped to less than 15% of the beds that exist. When the number of available beds went down, the new restrictions went up.
The state-mandated regional lockdown requires, among other things, that restaurants are closed to indoor and outdoor dining—you can only order food for take-out. (320 Main was among the first local restaurants to announce they would provide take-out only starting Tuesday. Many Main Street restaurants were closed Monday. O’Malley’s on Main had a table set up out front to accept take-out orders.)
District One Councilman Joe Kalmick, whose district includes the Main Street dining and shopping area, believed there might be an issue with people eating at tables in front of restaurants. He said during a Tuesday phone interview that he personally had no problem with people eating at tables that just happen to be in front of restaurants, but he wondered how social distancing would be enforced.
Retail (and grocery) shopping are allowed, but with strict occupancy limits.
The state order says you may gather in groups outside your household to worship or to engage in political protest.
Otherwise, the state doesn’t want people gathering in groups outside their own households.
The state is discouraging non-essential travel.
Parks and beaches are open.
The mask mandate remains in place. Social media is alight with objections to the restrictions.
The stay-at-home order was scheduled to remain in effect for three weeks as of editorial deadline for the print edition of the Sun. However, everything is subject to change on short notice. (Check the Sun’s Facebook page for updates.) (For the text of the regional stay-at-home order, visit sunnews.org)
The local police announced on Facebook that they would try education first, then enforcement.
The head of the city’s Hold Fast Seal Beach marketing campaign is encouraging the business community to “hunker down.”
At the moment, city officials are not planning any new rules.
The Seal Beach Chamber of Commerce president expressed frustration and worry for businesses and their employees.
Local responses
“While the regional lockdown will significantly impact our community, as the City has done since the beginning of this public health emergency, we will continue to comply with all State and County public health orders,” wrote City Manager Jill Ingram in a Monday, Dec. 7, email.
“No additional restrictions are being considered at this time,” Ingram wrote.
“Beaches are not identified in the Governor’s new stay-at-home order as one of the sectors that must be closed,” Ingram wrote.
“Since the beach will remain open at this time, there is no current need to modify or impose any new beach-related rules,” she wrote.
The police, in the meantime, are emphasizing education.
“Our enforcement posture since the beginning of this pandemic has been to educate the public first,” wrote Seal Beach Police Sgt. Nick Nicholas in a Dec. 8 email.
“When our officers do observe violations, we seek to gain voluntary compliance and have been very successful using this approach,” Nicholas wrote.
“However, if we are challenged, we can and have taken enforcement action which includes issuing citations and making arrests, if absolutely necessary,” Nicholas wrote.
“If we get a call about a violation, we can and will respond to it in time. The Police Department wants to know about every suspicious person, order being violated, or crime being committed in town. There is literally no call too small for us. We will respond to EVERY call we receive from the public, regardless of the perceived insignificance of it,” Nicholas wrote.
Councilman Kalmick said he hadn’t heard anything from his constituents—no one was calling him or complaining. “I get the impression that people are resigned to it,” Kalmick said.
He said the next step would be to determine what to do after outdoor dining is no longer an emergency.
He said there was a constant struggle to do make sure there was full compliance with the restrictions.
He also said the city was “bending over backward to its detriment” to allow businesses to operate and yet follow the restrictions.
Deb Machen, of Market Snag, has a contract to promote the city’s Hold Fast Seal Beach marketing campaign, said the campaign would continue to encourage local shopping and dining in a Dec. 7 email. “It’s more than a hashtag. It’s a lifestyle. Shopping and dining local supports local families and our local economy, as well as providing local jobs and community investment,” Machen wrote in a .
“Our small businesses invest in our community’s welfare and future and we need to return the favor during this unprecedented time,” Machen wrote
“We live in a one-click world, but I believe the people of and around Seal Beach want an experience and desire the connection and interaction with friends and neighbors while they shop, order their food for delivery or takeout, or enjoy an outdoor workout at their local gym,” Machen wrote.
“The campaign name, Hold Fast Seal Beach, comes from the nautical term, meaning to hunker down and survive the storm, to stay true and be responsible. Now, more than ever, we the community of Seal Beach must hunker down, stay true and be responsible to our small businesses that have given so much to our community and help make our quaint little beach town a place of which we can all be proud,” Machen wrote.
Chamber President Rob Jahncke, who owns Javatinis Espresso on Main Street, said he had heard from all sides during a Monday interview. (Both reporter and source wore masks during the interview.)
“This is definitely on top of mind for all the businesses, particularly the restaurants and hair salons,” he said.
Hair salons are among the businesses that now must be closed again.
“I’ve heard of a couple more businesses saying they don’t know if they’re going to make it through this one,” Jahncke said.
“And it’s not just the business owners—it’s the staff that goes to support the businesses. They get hit really hard, too,” Jahncke said.
“Today [Dec. 7] is the first day of the regional stay-at-home order and on Monday, Main Street is really slow. You can tell by the number of parking spaces,” Jahncke said.
“It has put my staff on edge, as it has with many other businesses,” Jahncke said.
He said he understood the health concerns behind the restrictions, but there is a lot more going on than health concerns. “Honestly, I’m at a loss for words,” he said.
He also pointed out that part of the frustration is that the rules for restaurants are changing.
According to Jahncke, up until now, Seal Beach has benefitted from people seeing the small beach town as a local destination.
Jahncke said the percentage of available ICU beds is the only number that he agrees with whole-heartedly.
“I would also like to see the government orders to help increase the ICU capacity,” Jahncke said.
