So, What Happened?

After mass yesterday, I asked our pastor if, in response to the LA County relaxation of its prohibition on indoor worship, there were any plans afoot to resume it at our parish. (There had been no announcement about any change at mass itself.) It turns out that he was completely unaware of the situation, which is partly understandable, since the press release was issued only late Saturday. But he also said, "There's been nothing from the archdiocese."

That strongly suggests to me that the process was anything but consultative. Our pastor said, "We keep lobbying, but. . ." This seems consistent with remarks by Abp Cordileone in San Francisco that his archdiocese keeps submitting plans for safe reopening but never gets a reply. So it seems safe to assume that the county revised its decree without any sort of discussion with religious leaders, and it apparently gave them no heads-up about the change. So they could plan for Christmas, after all.

Does "Dr" Barbara Ferrer, the county health director whose portrait is above, look like someone who'd want to help churches plan for Christmas?

So this leads me to that strangely passive-aggressive press release from late Saturday. It begins with the usual hysterical headlines:

L.A. County Surpasses 600,000 COVID-19 Cases as Hospitalizations Continue to Soar

60 New Deaths and 13,756 New Confirmed Cases of COVID-19 in Los Angeles County

Then three full paragraphs follow saying

L.A. County is experiencing the fastest acceleration of new cases than at any other time during the pandemic. . . . Today, Public Health has confirmed 60 new deaths and 13,756 new cases of COVID-19. . . . Hospital capacity across the county is limited, and healthcare workers are hard-pressed to keep up with the need for care. And the only means available to improve the situation at the hospitals is to reduce the number of people becoming newly infected with COVID-19.

Then there's a paragraph favorably noting the appeals court's overruling the San Diego judge's injunction against the state and county for enforcing the restaurant closure.

A recent decision by the Court of Appeal affirms Los Angeles County's duty to prevent disease transmission and protect public health through existing Health Officer Orders, and the suspension of outdoor dining remains in effect. Public Health reminds all sectors and businesses that all other requirements, safety directives, and temporary business closures also remain in effect.

In other words, the county health department's ability to govern by decree continues unabated. Except when it doesn't. Finally, after four paragraphs, the release gets to the heart of the matter:

The Los Angeles County Health Officer Order will be modified today to align with recent Supreme Court rulings for places of worship. Places of worship are permitted to offer faith-based services both indoors and outdoors with mandatory physical distancing and face coverings over both the nose and mouth that must be worn at all times while on site. Places of worship must also assure that attendance does not exceed the number of people who can be accommodated while maintaining a physical distance of six feet between separate households.

Ferrer most definitely did not want to issue this modification. You can tell from the tone and the need to preface it with paragraphs full of hysteria -- everybody's dying, but the Supreme Court does this???

We can be pretty sure that this decision didn't come from consultation with Catholic authorities, or any other religious leaders. Those people are the enemy. Nor did it come from any particular court order. The federal judge in the Harvest Rock case is slow-walking the process in his court, and in any case, the city of Pasdadena, which is in LA County, has its own health department enforcing separate orders and is not under Ferrer's jurisdiction. Although Grace Community Church is a thorn in the city and county's side, there's been no major court action in recent weeks in its case.

So the county health department is responding to domething that isn't so specific. But whatever it was, it made Ferrer do something she didn't want to do.

My guess is that it was pressure from Mayor Garcetti, the county supervisors, and even Gov Newsom, who nevertheless are all blue and bluer. And I would put it to the Recall Newsom movement, which is gaining enough traction that it's made national news.