Saturday, January 16, 2021

Coronavirus in rural America (Part CXVII): The conundrum and paradoxes of health regulations in multi-jurisdictional Lake Tahoe

Susanne Rust reports in the Los Angeles Times under the headline, "At Lake Tahoe, unfurling the statewide welcome mat is ‘awkward’ as pandemic rages."  Some geographic background is helpful to understand the story:  The California side of Lake Tahoe falls within two counties, El Dorado and Placer, that stretch westward all the way to greater Sacramento.  The state announced a few days ago that the Sacramento region, including Lake Tahoe, is no longer part of the state’s stay-at-home order.  Further complicating the array of salient regulations is that Lake Tahoe straddles the California-Nevada state line, and Nevada restrictions have generally been less stringent than those here in the Golden State.  

The story quotes several local officials regarding the conundrum they face and the paradoxes of trying to stop a virus with regulations that vary across arbitrary state and local boundaries.  

Here's an excerpt from Rust's story referring to Tamara Wallace, mayor of South Lake Tahoe, a municipality in El Dorado County:

As much as she wants to uphold the orders banning indoor dining, she’s had few tools at her disposal: El Dorado County’s sheriff and district attorney have both said they will not enforce the governor’s mandates.

Rust also quotes Cindy Gustafson, a Placer County supervisor, who lives in Tahoe City, on the "north shore."

“It’s just an influx of people going back and forth [between this part of California and Reno],” she said, also noting the arbitrariness of the governor’s regional orders, which pulls unincorporated cities, such as Placer County’s Tahoe City, into the Greater Sacramento region.

“Auburn may be where the county seat is,” she said, “but we’re nothing like Auburn. We’re a rural, mountain town.”

This is an interesting distinction Gustafson is drawing because many would characterize Auburn as also a "rural, mountain town."  An earlier story about Placer County's reaction to COVID-19 also depicts Auburn as "rural," of a sort.  

2 comments:

Corina A. Yetter said...

Thank you for this important work Professor Pruitt. I know that many in my rural community feel left behind and ignored by those in government.

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