We have now returned from an epic almost 3 week trip to both southern and northern California with visits to Newport Beach, San Francisco, and Napa Valley. So many miles and so little time. After dozens of restaurants, over 14 wineries and retail outlets, and tasting over 90 wines we are exhausted. But somebody has to do it. My report will be in multiple parts and extensive. Part one is here discussing the bad and ugly parts of the trip. Part 2 will include wine, vineyard, retail outlet, and restaurant reviews. Please enjoy.
California Covid Restrictions The bad
Covid restrictions in California for most of us would be considered draconian. There is a person at every restaurant door checking immunization records and you basically are required to wear a mask everywhere unless you are outdoors away from everyone. Anywhere else there would be an uproar over these restrictions. But in California, everyone seems to peacefully go along with them. But the bottom line do these restrictions actually do any good? I hear all the controversy but I really have not heard much about how well they work if at all. The information is out there, you just have to look for it. Worldmeter to me has the best nonpartisan data and here it is. California has had the highest number of Covid cases but they also have the largest population. In order to compare apples to apples you need to compare similar numbers and most statisticians look at total numbers per 1 million of the population. California has had 12.34% of its population infected with Covid. 26.98% of the total population has received at least one Covid test and 1.8% of the population/per million have died from Covid. Texas has had more cases 14.77% of the population, 15.97% tested, and 2.5% died. Florida has had 17.30% of the population infected, 19.87% tested, and 2.8% died. My conclusion can only be California’s restrictions are helping. Florida, despite a few more tests as compared to Texas still has the highest number of cases and deaths. Yes, it is only a 1% larger number which is 10,000 people per million population. If you are one of those 10,000 out of one million it is 100% for you. There is the cost/benefit calculation of course and many would argue you have to take the 10,000 deaths to prevent the collapse of the economy and to many, that is a valid argument. Airlines make that argument daily. The fact is airplanes could be built so that a large majority of passengers would survive almost any airplane crash. But the cost of that would make ticket prices so high no one could afford to fly. So the airlines accept they cannot save everyone. I don’t like wearing a mask all the time. But the reality is that it doesn’t harm me as a physician I have worn one for a large part of my career and it’s something simple that in California at least has saved approximately 10,000 lives per 1 million citizens.
Covid or no Covid everywhere we went was very crowded. In fact, in Napa, it was the most crowded I have ever seen in over 30 years. Everywhere we went there was significant waiting and if you did not have very advanced reservations you simply did not get in. This applied to hotels, restaurants, and winery tastings. Along with crowds was traffic. At the restaurants due to covid, there were additional restrictions and limitations. Yank Sing is one of my favorite Chinese restaurants in the world primarily because of their Dim Sum that features Peking Duck. Not anymore. You sat at a table ordered off a severely limited menu that only provided about a dozen choices and no more Peking Duck. It was very disappointing. We used Uber/Lyft a lot and in San Francisco had little to no trouble. But the prices were close to double what we are used to paying. But it is still a bargain as it is no fun to fight traffic, especially in San Francisco, and then park somewhere where the cost can be something like $10 for every 20 minutes. You can find cheaper parking but many times it was blocks away from where you were going. Uber/Lyft was available in Napa but much less. At least one evening to go to dinner there were no drivers anywhere. Thankfully we had an SUV so we were OK so my recommendation is to rent a vehicle to get to the airport and back but use Uber/Lyft in town. We also used, and highly recommend a guide/driver/vineyard consultant to drive you around Napa and introduce you to the vineyards. You will obtain access to vineyards no one else can get into and have a much better tasting-experience. We used Eric Tracy of "Vine View"(707-337-3056, eric@vineviewtours.com, and vineviewtours.com), and were very happy with his services. He took us everywhere, introduced us to great people, and provided invaluable insight into the area. One of our group even used him for airport transfer at 5 AM to SFO. In France, guides/agents are mandatory in my experience. The usual cost is approximately $1000 a day but that includes a car, driver, and 6 people who split the cost and make it much more affordable(does not include tasting fees). For the most part in Napa, there is no more driving up and tasting some wine and leaving. Every vineyard we looked into even the old established ones required appointments and a tasting fee to taste wine. Dependent on the vineyard the tasting fee ranges from $25 per person to $120. In our case, the average was $100 per person. Some, but not all, refund the tasting fee if you buy wine with anywhere from 3 bottles to one case purchased per person to waive the tasting fee. Be sure and inquire in advance. We ended up purchasing around 20 cases so, in the end, it was not an issue for us. Of interest, one winemaker told us they had looked into what “free” tastings were costing them, and in the year prior to Covid they had used over 2400 cases in their tastings which was lost revenue, and with Covid and the money they lost through lost sales at the vineyard they could no longer afford to give away 2400 cases of wine each year.
California Homelessness the ugly
The entire 2 weeks we were in California we saw almost no homeless people on the street. But we were in the better parts of town until the last day. On the last day, we ventured out and yes we saw a fair number of “tent cities” lined up along the sidewalks in parts of the city. It was concentrated in certain areas. I witnessed one lady relieving herself on the street. My first thought was how she had lost all sense of dignity and wondered how that could happen. I do not know her whole entire life story so I have no way to judge how she got there. What I do know is that a good proportion of the homeless is veterans many of which have severe PTSD. From some work with the American Legion, I know that veteran organizations can help these people and find placement for them, but they do need their cooperation. Too many times homeless people reject help as they don’t want to be told when to go to sleep or when or where they can smoke cigarettes and they argue it is their right to do what they want in the name of freedom. Something in there needs to be compromised. I do believe we need to understand that it is as much a factor of California’s high population, mild weather year-round, and lack of affordable housing that helps perpetuate homelessness as opposed to Government oversight or programs that most would agree might make the situation worse instead of better.
No comments:
Post a Comment