The Los Angeles media outlets had been asking why outdoor dining was closed, and for the proof about how the order really affects COVID transmission.
On December 9, 2020 an Associated Press reporter asked California Governor Gavin Newsom: “You and the state and the counties have been tightening restrictions for weeks now, yet cases are continuing to go up, so how do you ensure that putting in place this order and shutting down more businesses doesn’t just encourage more gatherings inside homes? What evidence do you have that shutting down things like barbershops is actually going to achieve what you want?”
Gov. Gavin Newsom’s answer: “The evidence you ask? Very significant evidence, overwhelming evidence. And that’s what we did by leading the nation as the first state with a stay-at-home order and we avoided the surge that many other states experienced, particularly larger states in that first wave. So we were able to bend the curve by using the same strategies, the same approaches of non-pharmaceutical interventions. So that’s the evidence, and it is overwhelming.”
Newsom perfected a word salad before Vice President Kamala Harris made the term popular during her presidential run in 2024.
