Stay-home orders continue to be a gray area

Larry Reynolds said he was confused when he went by the Fallbrook Tennis Club.

It was mid-April, long after residents were given orders to stay at home except for essential needs or work and to avoid gatherings of any size.

And yet, he saw what he described as large numbers of people utilizing the tennis club.

"There was probably six, 10 cars in the parking lot. All of the courts were being used and the pros are out there teaching, and they're hanging onto their clients and they're certainly not even close to their social distancing and I just thought it takes a lot of gall to do," Reynolds said.

He thought it was dangerous. So, he called the San Diego County sheriff's department. Not once, but "at least four times," he said.

The sheriff's department confirmed they received at least two calls for service during the week of April 13, the week in which Reynolds said he called.

"The club is closed for business during the pandemic, but apparently members are permitted to use the facility to participate in outdoor activity, which is allowed per the order," sheriff's Lt. Arnold Aldana at the Fallbrook Substation said.

Reynolds said he saw more than enough people that he thought it constituted a public health risk.

"It's dangerous. It's not a matter of inconvenience or anything else," Reynolds said.

The Fallbrook Tennis Club did not return requests for comment, and for what it's worth, this Village News reporter drove by several times and did not spot any more than three or four cars in the tennis club's lot at a time.

But it shines a light on the vague nature of the public health orders. In China, the government implemented strict lockdowns in Hubei Province, even simply closing off Wuhan, China, the origin of the coronavirus outbreak, from the outside world.

As much as some protesters in the United States are beginning to decry stay-home orders, the public health orders issued here have never been as stringent or as strictly enforced.

The San Diego County Sheriff's Department has issued some citations for violating stay-home orders, including 22 for people watching the sunset at a beach in Encinitas in early April and even one in Fallbrook recently for which the sheriff's department did not disclose a reason.

The citations can carry a fine of up to $1,000, or six months in jail, or both.

But enforcement throughout the county seems to be spotty.

In Carlsbad, officers issued two citations at Aviara Community Park earlier in April, but only after a group was asked to leave "multiple times," the San Diego Union-Tribune reported.

And protesters throughout the county rallying against the stay-home orders have mostly managed to avoid citation or arrest, save for three arrested at a protest in Encinitas over the weekend who sheriff's deputies said refused to comply with multiple verbal warnings.

The actual text of Gov. Gavin Newsom's stay-at-home order specifically directs Californians to "stay home or at their place of residence except as needed to maintain continuity of operations of the federal critical infrastructure sectors."

And what is actually included in that category is fairly broad.

People are allowed to go to the grocery store or to go to work if they are in an essential career field, of course.

The state of California's webpage explained the statewide stay-home order and made it very clear that outdoor recreation is still allowed. The caveat is that residents are supposed to maintain a safe distance from strangers on the street.

"So long as you are maintaining a safe social distance of 6 feet from people who aren't part of your household, it is OK to go outside for exercise, a walk or fresh air," according to the state's webpage.

But the actual enforcement of that is up to the sheriff's department or the police department of whatever city residents happen to be in. So, it's a gray area indeed.

Will Fritz can be reached by email at [email protected].