Good afternoon,
During a recent trip to northern California, it wasn’t hard to find people unhappy with Covid-19 restrictions.
A dozen or more demonstrators were standing on a corner in the East Bay city of Concord waving various signs.
None of this comes as a surprise. Concord is in Contra Costa County, one of the most restrictive in California.
The county has a relatively low profile since it does not have any of the well-known cities in the Bay area.
Instead, it is a diverse collection of medium-sized burgs away from Silicon Valley.
It is known for a cluster of refineries on the bay that includes a recently acquired Shell site now owned by Delaware City refinery owner PBF. In the same general area is Hercules, a city named after the long-time Wilmington explosives-chemical company now known as Ashland.
In the 1800s, Mount Diablo, which overlooks much of the county, supplied the coal for a booming San Francisco. (See accompanying Creative Commons photo.)
Other destinations include ritzy Walnut Creek, a short drive from a more blue-collar Concord.
In Contra Costa, population 1.2 million, masks are still required in indoor spaces. People dining indoors have to produce a vaccination record. The mandate would seem to be overly restrictive in a county that has done a good job in beating back the virus.
But we’re talking the Bay area. Many of its residents remain proud of their ability to avoid the surges that occurred in other parts of the state and nation, including Los Angeles.
The tough stance produced pushback that was reflected in the street corner protest.
Also, the hugely popular burger chain In-N-Out, owned by a conservative California family, defied the vaccination check policy and ended up with fines.
One recently visited watering hole in a corner of the county proudly proclaimed its no vax check policy, despite a warning from the county health department.
The county has paid the price for the restrictions. Empty retail spaces abound, although new tenants are beginning to move in and excess retail space was an issue pre-Covid.
The jobless rate is roughly comparable to Delaware’s figure. That can’t be said for gas prices that hover uncomfortably near the $5 a gallon mark.
Still, Contra Costa has seen a death rate from Covid that is less than half the figure for Delaware.
Granted, the county had time to prepare after the New York and New Jersey onslaught of the virus.
It also appears that the East Bay may have been the first place where the virus landed. A combination of luck, tough restrictions, and perhaps a less virulent strain than the one that devastated the New York metro area kept a lid on deaths.
Residents are somewhat more eager to get vaccines, with about 62% of the population fully vaccinated, sightly above Delaware’s rate, which has been held back by vaccine reluctance in Kent County.
Whether the economic price paid for the tough stance was too high will be debated well into the future.
One thing can’t be disputed. When compared to Delaware, Contra Costa has 1,000 fewer people who did not die from Covid-19 complications. – Doug Rainey, chief content officer.
