Public’s patience wearing thin 10 months into coronavirus pandemic

Right about now, in a “normal” year, students and workers
would begin to check out from their everyday duties as the
Thanksgiving holiday approaches. They’d think about eating big
turkey dinners and sitting around with relatives from all over.

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This year, though, an alarming surge in COVID-19 cases has
public health authorities reining in social activities, a move that
underscores the continuing spread of a deadly virus 10 months after
the pandemic changed almost everyone’s lives.

The
government response to increased caseloads has added to
frustrations across the Bay Area and beyond just weeks after much
of the region began loosening restrictions.

“I’m really getting sick of this,” Santa Clara janitor
Ricardo Cruz said Sunday. “It’s complicating everything. We
have work, but it’s double the work. We have to basically chase
people around while they are putting their hands on everything.
It’s exhausting.”

The exhaustion has led to a sort of “COVID fatigue,” with
state and county health officials pleading for patience from an
antsy, long-confined public as a vaccine comes closer every
day.

After months of stay-at-home orders and the slow reopening of
public facilities, California and much of the nation appear to be
backsliding. Local officials on Friday announced plans to
shut down indoor dining — again. The same day, state
officials issued an advisory that discourages Thanksgiving travel,
giving “home for the holidays” a new meaning.

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“We thought it was calming down with everything opening up,
but I guess that’s not true,” Miguel Angel Salgado said Sunday
outside Arteaga’s Food Center in Santa Clara. “For me, if
things stay like this, we’ll be with the virus forever.”

Salgado, 56, said that he has been stranded in California this
year because of the virus. He said he has a ticket to fly home to
Massachusetts on Dec. 4, but doubts he will make it.

California has reported more than
1 million cases of COVID-19,�with a death toll now over 18,000.
Hospitalizations have increased 34.6% in the past two weeks, with
intensive care unit hospitalizations up 36.7%.

“We always hope to have positive news, and this isn’t really
positive news,†California’s health secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly
said Friday. “This is an important, immediate situation.â€

Californians already had scrapped traditional plans for holidays
such as Easter, Passover and Ramadan. Many could not attend high
school and college graduation ceremonies, weddings and
funerals.

Now, the commemorations that mark the end of the year and the
promise of spring’s renewal — Thanksgiving, Christmas,
Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and New Year festivities — are being curtailed
based on predictions from epidemiologists about how the virus will
spread during the winter.

Another celebration — the Hindu festival of Diwali, which
typically draws thousands to local temples — took place over the
weekend in subdued style, according to those in the community.

Jack Iyer, the treasure at the Sri Siddhi Temple in Fremont,
said that hundreds of worshippers normally enter the temple in
groups throughout the day to mark the Festival of Lights, a holiday
that signifies the triumph of good over evil.

On Saturday, Iyer said, temple officials allowed only 10 people
to enter at a time for a quick glimpse of the festival
decorations.

“We are torn,†he said. “Some people in the area have
opened up regardless of the directives of the county. We don’t
want to do that, †in order to keep everyone safe, he added.

Karuna Jain, of Milpitas, said she is used to having a small
gathering for Diwali; her son, a 2016 Olympic table tennis player,
has lived in Europe for the last five years. But the novel
coronavirus surge impacted Jain and her husband this year, she
said, because their daughter did not make it home for the first
time in more than two decades.

“Normally I’d go to the temple,†Jain said, “but this
year the temple is closed.â€

Judith Stacey, who lives alone in Oakland with her dog, said not
having a social outlet has been challenging. She has started
playing pickleball, a popular racket sport among seniors. But
Stacey said she worried that a rainy winter might keep her caged up
inside once more.

Iyer, of the Hindu temple, said he was concerned about his
children’s mental well-being because of the restriction on
activities. His son attends college in Minnesota but is home taking
virtual classes. He said his daughter is a high school
sophomore.

When they suffer from “cabin fever,†Iyer piles the family
into the car to “aimlessly drive around,†he said.

Oakland social worker Joe Mintz said the isolation has increased
addictive behaviors among youth.

He added that children are asking him about death more than
usual.

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“I try to offer kids reassurance that this is something
everyone — all the doctors and scientists in the world — are
working on because everyone wants to figure this out,†Mintz
said. “There’s not much more I can offer other than,
‘Everybody cares.’ â€

Ghaly acknowledged Friday that state officials are asking a lot
of the public two weeks before the Thanksgiving holiday.

“We know that it’s not an easy thing to do, that it creates
a hardship, but we know that if we’re gonna get through this
really difficult time with surging cases, that these are the
important steps,†he said.

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