Recall Candidates Knocked Out; Some Get Back on Ballot, By Jondi Gumz Three Ways to Vote in Sept. 14 Governor Recall

COMMUNITY NEWS Recall Candidates Knocked Out; Some Get Back on Ballot

By Jondi Gumz

More than 80 hopefuls filed intentions to knock out Gov. Gavin Newsom in a recall election Sept. 14, but half of those names were knocked out after failing to file follow-up paperwork on time.

One got back on the ballot after suing Secretary of State Shirley Weber, contending he had properly filed and getting a favorable ruling from a judge, who tossed out the new requirement to submit five years of federal tax returns.

Who Are The Candidates?

Democrats: Holly Baade, John Drake, Patrick Kilpatrick, Jacqueline McGowan, Kevin Pathrath, Armando Perez-Serrano, Brandon Ross, Joel Ventresca, and David Watts.

Republicans: David Bramante, John Cox, Larry Elder, Kevin Faulconer, Rhonda Furin, Ted Gaines, Sam Gallucci, David Hillberg, Caitlyn Jenner, Kevin Kiley, Chauncey Killens, Jenny Rae LeRoux, Steve Chavez Lodge, David Lozano, Diego Martinez, Daniel Mercuri, Robert Newman II, Doug Ose, Sarah Stephens, Denver Stoner, Joe Symmon, Anthony Trimino, Nickolas Wildstar, and Leo Zacky.

Green Party: Heather Collins, and Daniel Kapelowitz.

Libertarian: Jeff Hewitt.

No party preference: Angelyne, James Hanink, Kevin Kaul, Michael Loebs, Denis Lucey, Jeremy Marciniak, David Moore, Adam Papagan, Dennis Richter, and Major Singh.

On July 12, Sacramento County Superior Court Judge James Arguelles ruled Gov. Newsom cannot be listed as a Democrat on the ballot because he missed the deadline on Feb. 28, 2020, to designate his party affiliation. Newsom contended it was a good faith error in responding to the recall notice.

Orrin Heatlie, 52, of Folsom, a retired sheriff’s sergeant, began the recall process in 2020. He told the Desert Sun he was motivated by a video of the governor instructing immigrants in the country illegally not to open their doors to law enforcement unless officers had a warrant. Elder, a radio talk show host on the ballot as “broadcast/author,” was initially left off the candidates’ list by the Secretary of State. He contended the official overstepped authority by requiring tax returns for recall candidates.

Tax returns are required for gubernatorial candidates in a primary under a 2019 law, and Sacramento County Superior Court Judge Laurie Earl agreed with Elder that a recall is not a primary and tax returns are not required.

Furin, a nonprofit president, also got back on the ballot over the same issue.

Faulconer, former mayor of San Diego, sued Weber because she disallowed his preferred ballot designation, “retired San Diego mayor.” He lost in court, and is listed at “businessman/educator.”

Paffrath, 29, a real estate broker and investor, sued to use “MeetKevin,” the name of his YouTube channel with 1.68 million followers. He lost and is listed as “financial educator/analyst.”

Bramante, a “Realtor/multifamily developer,” and Cox, a “businessman/ accountant/father,” declined to accept voluntary limits on campaign spending. All the others accepted.

Mail Ballots In August

The recall ballot has two parts.

First, voters can choose “yes” or “no” to the question of whether to remove the governor from office. Second, the voter can pick a replacement candidate.

The order of the names is based on a randomized alphabet drawing July 19 by the Secretary of State’s office.

Military and overseas voters are to be mailed ballots 45 days before the Sept. 14 election day, which is July 31.

Ballots start to be mailed to active registered voters living in California will begin to be mailed 29 days, which is Aug. 15.

Every vote-by-mail ballot comes with a first-class prepaid postage return envelope.

“Recall” page 9

Three Ways to Vote in Sept. 14 Governor Recall

A) Use the Ballot Mailed to You

1. Mark it by filling in the oval to the left of your choices. 2 Insert the completed ballot in the postage paid ballot envelope provided. 3. In your own handwriting, sign the ballot envelope. Print your name, address, and a way to contact you. 4. Return your ballot: • Drop it off at one of the 24/7 ballot drop boxes, Santa Cruz County Clerk/Elections office, Room 310, 701 Ocean St., Santa Cruz Watsonville, 275 Main St. Room 400, Watsonville. • Deliver your ballot to the Santa Cruz County Clerk/Elections office, Room 310, 701 Ocean St., Santa Cruz, or the City Clerk for Capitola, 420 Capitola Ave., Capitola, Santa Cruz, 809 Center St. Room 9, Santa Cruz, Scotts Valley, 1 Civic Center Drive, Scotts Valley, or Watsonville, 275 Main St. Room 400, Watsonville.

• Drop off your ballot at any inperson voting locations open Sept. 11 to Sept. 14. • Mail your ballot so it is postmarked on or before Election Day, Sept.14. Delivery can take 3 to 7 days. B) Vote In Person: Aug. 16 to Sept. 10

You may vote in person from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at these locations: • Santa Cruz County Clerk/Elections, 701 Ocean Street Room 310, Santa

Cruz, CA 95060 • 831-454-2060 • Watsonville City Clerk’s Office, 275

Main Street Room 400, Watsonville,

CA 95076 • 831- 768-3040 • Vote Mobile — schedule at votescount.us, updated daily At these locations, you can: • Obtain a replacement ballot • Register and vote on the same day • Vote an accessible ballot on the tablet • Vote a Spanish ballot on the tablet • Drop off voted ballot • Any other voter services

Public health protocols will be followed which may include: mask wearing, hand sanitizing, physical distancing & disinfecting services. If you are sick, stay home.

C) Vote In Person: Sept 11 to Sept. 14

Locations will be announced soon. They will be listed at votescount.us.

Voting hours: • 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturday and Sunday,

Sept. 11-12, • 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday, Sept. 13 • 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 14

“COVID Update” from page 5

The state’s Aug. 11 vaccine or test mandate applies to all transitional kindergarten through12th grade teachers and support staff at public and private schools, and must be fully implemented by Oct. 15.

To facilitate that, the Santa Cruz County Office of Education launched a central testing location available to all school staff. The county Office of Education, with health officials, also set up pop-up clinics in August with Pfizer vaccine at schools in Watsonville, Freedom, Santa Cruz and Felton for students age 12 and up.

No Mask Order

On Aug. 2, health officers in Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara and Sonoma counties announced a mask mandate, requiring every resident to wear a face mask indoors in public settings, regardless of vaccination status.

That is not the case in Santa Cruz County.

At the time, local case rates were much lower, putting Santa Cruz County in the yellow tier, Newel said, but the fast-spreading Delta pushed the county into the orange tier last week and now the red tier.

She’s weighing a decision on a mandate, but is reluctant to do so, saying she would rather prioritize vaccines than have law enforcement focus on masks.

She has two more reasons.

“I follow the science and the science (on masks) is not completely clear,” she said.

She added, “I don’t believe an order would change behavior.”

Meanwhile, hospitals are full of patients who do not have COVID – people getting procedures they put off last year – adding to the workload at a time when medical facilities are short-staffed.

Newel said hospital staffing statewide is down 22 percent due to burnout, estimating it’s 20 percent locally.

“Staffed (hospital) beds are half,” she said, “just one or two ICU beds open.”

Some staff are taking “well-deserved vacations” after waiting for 18 months, she said, and some are struggling with child care or elder care.

Dr. David Ghilarducci, deputy county health officer, said some are on a leave of absence or have resigned.

“People have been through a brutal year,” he said. “They’re still recovering.”

The Aptos Times asked Dignity Health Dominican Hospital for an assessment, but did not get a response by deadline.

Watsonville Community Hospital provided this statement: “We currently have sufficient staff to safely care for all patients who come to Watsonville Community Hospital. We have been successful in recruiting new staff, and we are increasing our efforts to hire additional staff to mitigate any challenges that may arise in the future. Any time a hospital is unable to take additional patients, for any reason, ambulances are routinely diverted to other area hospitals depending on their available capacity.”

Newel said the two people who died — the county’s first COVID-19 deaths since May — were unvaccinated.

Both had the Delta variant. Both were in their 70s. Both had underlying medical conditions.

October Resolution?

The one bright spot Newel mentioned is that the Delta variant spreads quickly, incubates quickly and resolves quickly.

Predictions are the situation will peak in September and resolve by mid-October, before the holidays, which Newel hopes will be the case. She has an international trip planned, and hopes she’ll feel safe enough to travel.

The difference between this surge and prior surges, Newel said, is more cases in North County (specifically Ben Lomond, 59 percent fully vaccinated, and Boulder Creek) compared to South County, more in the white population than Latinx population, and more with the source unknown rather than from someone in the same household. In July, outbreaks hit San Lorenzo Valley, at the Felton Music Hall which instituted a vaccine requirement for staff, Little People’s Repertory Theatre in Ben Lomond, which cancelled its production, Joe’s Bar in Boulder Creek, which has reopened and is requiring patrons to wear a mask to enter, the historic Brookdale Lodge, which hosted a car show and now has limited hours for the bar and market to keep people safe.

Unlike the first surge, which spread among residents of nursing homes and assisted living facilities, recent cases are mostly people age 25 to 50 who “tend to be more socially active and less likely to follow masking and social distancing guidance,” Newel said.

Younger people age 25-34 are the least vaccinated, said Dr. Ghilarducci.

He said 66.5 percent of the county population are fully vaccinated and 78 percent have had one shot – not taking into account kids under 12 who are not eligible.

“Decent numbers but not good enough,” Ghilarducci said, advising those unvaccinated to check www.santacruzhealth.org under vaccines for a calendar of pop-up clinics.

In August, vaccines were offered on 18 of 31 days, and six dates have been scheduled for September.

Newel said the benefits of being vaccinated if you do get the Delta variant, you will likely have a mild case and you’ll reduce your risk of hospitalization or death, easing pressure on hospitals.

The challenge for public health officials is that the typical tool of contact tracing to combat spread doesn’t work with the Delta variant.

“Within two days, it’s already shedding virus,” said Mimi Hall, director of the county’s Health Services Agency. “By the time a test is performed, it’s too late for contact tracing.”

Half the people contacted about their exposure now are not willing to cooperate, she added.

New Trend Metric

Though case counts are up dramatically, Jen Herrera, assistant director of Health Services, said the county plans to stick with updating the county coronavirus dashboard at santacruzhealth.org twice a week rather than daily, as was done when the pandemic began last year.

She said a 14-day change metric has been added to provide trend data. On Aug. 13, new COVID cases were up 141 percent, compared to less than 5 percent in June.

Asked about herd immunity, the concept that a disease is less likely to spread if a large percentage of the population is immune, Newel said, “It does not have a specific number.”

The phrase, “herd immunity,” appears in the title of an article in 1923 in the journal Epidemiology & Infection relating to bacterial infection among mice.

In 1933, Dr. Arthur Hedrich wrote in the American Journal of Epidemiology that outbreaks of measles in Boston during 1900-1933 appeared to decline when 68% of the children contracted the virus.

Since then, the herd immunity concept has been applied to vaccines for various contagious diseases, but this coronavirus behaves differently.

Ghilarducci said, “Some are saying herd immunity is elusive at this point when Delta is so transmissible.”

On Aug. 13, responding to a masking question, Newel said, “I’m masking in every indoor setting…it’s an easy way to protect yourself. I err on the side of caution.”

Asked if ivermectin, an anti-parasitic drug that reduced symptoms in Egypt, reduced cases in cities in Brazil and prevented mortality at a nursing home in France, could be useful, Newel said, “Ivermectin has proven to not be impactful in treating or preventing COVID-19, sorry to say.”

When Aptos Times asked if her assessment was based on a lack of randomized controlled trials, she said, “I follow the lead of local infectious disease experts…We are not seeing it used locally or statewide.”

Supervisor Zach Friend said Washington,D.C. is providing COVID-19 testing kits free of charge at libraries. He asked if that could be considered.

Newel said RiteAID, CVS and Costco sell COVID-19 testing kits, two for $25, the same one used by the county to get rapid results, with the downside that the county does not see the results.

“The library is an interesting idea — I’m not sure we’ll go there yet,” she said.

Testing is free through Optum Serve 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday at the Santa Cruz Civic auditorium and 7 a.m. to 7 p.m Wednesday through Sunday at Ramsay Park in Watsonville. Appointments are required. To schedule, visit https://lhi.care/covidtesting and register, then pick your location.

The Toll

Deaths from COVID-19 in Santa Cruz County have risen from 207 to 209, with 49 percent of deaths at nursing homes and assisted living facilities, a percentage that was higher early in the pandemic. Delta Variant Early Symptoms Locally, 78 percent of those who died Sneezing, sniffles, were age 70 or older and 78 percent had sore throat and eye irritation other health conditions. The state reports 3,994,271 cases, 45 million vaccine doses, with 78 percent of the eligible population getting at least one dose. Deaths top 64,000, averaging 60 per day the last three days. During last winter’s peak, as many as 700 fatalities a day were reported. n

Photo Credit: Jondi Gumz Dr Gail Newel and the public health team at Thursday’s virtual press conference.

••• County COVID Deaths: 209 As of Aug. 13 Age 90 and up: 56 • 80 to 89: 63 • 70 to 79: 44 60 to 69: 27 • 50 to 59: 5 • 40 to 49: 7 30 to 39: 5 Race/Ethnicity

White: 115 • Latinx: 75 • Asian: 15 Black: 1 • Amer. Indian/Alaskan Native: 1 Underlying Conditions Yes: 161 • No: 46 Gender Male: 103 • Female: 104

Skilled Nursing/Residential Care Santa Cruz Post Acute: 20 Watsonville Post Acute: 18 Pacific Coast Manor: 14 Hearts & Hands Post Acute: 8 Sunshine Villa: 7 • Aegis: 4 Maple House 1: 4 • Valley Convalescent: 4 Watsonville Nursing Center: 4

Montecito Manor: 3 • De Un Amor: 2

Dominican Oaks: 2 • Driftwood: 2

Hanover House: 2 • Maple House II: 2

Rachelle’s Home 1: 2 • La Posada: 1

Paradise Villa: 1 • Rachelle’s Home II: 1 Valley Haven: 1 • Westwind: 1 Total: 103 Not at a facility: 106

Source: Santa Cruz County Public Health •••

Editor’s Note: Would you like to share your family’s COVID-19 story? Email Jondi Gumz at info@cyber-times.com or call 831688-7549 x17.