San Diego Residents Urged To 'Stay The Course' Following Protests

SAN DIEGO COUNTY, CA — Following protests over the weekend, officials on Monday urged San Diego County residents to "stay the course" and continue to stay home and follow other public health orders for the rest of April.

"I would like to commend the public for staying the course, and we want you to stay the course until the end of this month so that we can continue to see a decrease in the spread of COVID-19 and we can have enough evidence to justify dialing down and loosening up some of the public health orders and recommendations," said Dr. Wilma Wooten, the county's public health officer.

Over the weekend, protests were held across the county in response to the statewide shutdown and county and city closures.

On Saturday, a protest was held in downtown San Diego in front of San Diego Superior Court, where people protested the stay-at-home orders. On Sunday, people marched along South Coast Highway 101 in Encinitas to protest the closure of beaches, parks and trails.

"We will see if we see any change in the number of cases over the next couple of weeks," Wooten said regarding the protests. "We will be monitoring that closely."

Saturday's protest happened in the San Diego Police Department's jurisdiction while Sunday's protest took place in the San Diego County Sheriff's Department's jurisdiction.

"The San Diego Police Department and San Diego County Sheriff's Department recognize this fundamental right while balancing it with the need to enforce the public health orders. Both on Saturday and Sunday, the protests remained peaceful and once people's voices were heard, the protests ended," the departments said in a joint statement.

"Throughout these challenging times, law enforcement's role has been to maintain public safety by ensuring community members are in compliance of the state and county regulations to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Numerous warnings have been given along with citations to those who violated these orders."

Although authorities allowed the protests to take place, both departments urged people to follow the public health orders to continue to help slow the spread of the virus in the San Diego region.

"While no citations were issued at the protests, that does not mean prosecution will not be sought, especially to the organizers of these events," the statement said.

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On Monday, the county reported another 57 cases of the coronavirus and an additional COVID-19 death. To date, 2,325 people have tested positive for the virus and 72 have died.

The latest victim was a woman in her mid-80s with underlying health conditions, Wooten said.

The number of residents who have been hospitalized due to virus complications increased to 562, with 189 in intensive care. There have been 1,332 documented COVID-19 recoveries, according to county data.

The proportion of positive test cases has been on a downward trend for the past two weeks, Wooten said. She added that it's too soon to tell if the region is ready to transition to life post-COVID-19.

"We know we made the right call early," said Supervisor Nathan Fletcher, who warned against moving too fast to lift the public health orders.

"Some out there are calling for an immediate reopening of the county because of the low case numbers," he said. "It's like throwing away your umbrella in the middle of a rainstorm because you are not getting wet."

Fletcher said the county was "ready to begin considering easing" of public health orders, including reopening beaches and parks, once there's a framework for how to phase back into recreational activities. Measures would likely include hired security at locations to ensure the use of facial coverings and social distancing, as well as halving occupancy limits at retail establishments and eateries, he said.

Businesses should begin planning now on how to reopen and maintain public health orders, Fletcher said, so they will not be caught unprepared if there is an opportunity to reopen in May.

The San Diego Economic Recovery Advisory Group met for the first time Monday to develop a framework for a phased re-opening of the county's economy once the threat of COVID-19 has been tamed.

The group, which was announced Friday, consists of local civic and business leaders representing a variety of industries that will advise how best to safely reopen for business, and how to have the local economy thrive in a business environment so widely impacted by COVID-19.

"We've asked a lot of San Diego over the last few weeks, and many of you have come through," County Supervisor Greg Cox said. "We're asking you to stay just a little bit longer for a short period of time until we get over this hump and know that we've got the worst of this disease behind us."

Also see:

• California Coronavirus: Latest Updates On Cases, Orders, Closures
• Coronavirus In San Diego County: Latest News
• 7 More Deaths As Coronavirus Cases Surpass 2,000 In San Diego
• Coronavirus Cases Surpass 1,000 Milestone In San Diego County
• Face Coverings Urged As Coronavirus Cases Rise In San Diego
• San Diego Authorities To Crack Down On Stay-At-Home Violators

Patch editor Kristina Houck and City News Service contributed to this report.