Some San Jose State students weren’t surprised when county officials enacted a curfew to limit the number of coronavirus cases earlier this week and said it was the appropriate decision.
Santa Clara County Public Health Department issued a new order to close down non-essential indoor businesses and enacted a one-month curfew from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m.
Ashna Sharma, a nutritional science sophomore, said over the phone that the curfew can be beneficial in terms of lowering the amount of COVID-19 cases.
Sharma said she’s taking the virus very seriously, even though her family hasn’t been directly affected, because she has seen close friends of her’s being affected.
“It's really sad because I know people, like my friend’s grandma, she unfortunately passed away [from COVID-19],” she said.
According to the county’s public health department, as of Wednesday, Santa Clara County has a cumulative total of 32,049 COVID-19 cases and 470 deaths.
The curfew, which started on Saturday Nov. 11, will last for one month and is meant to stop non-essential work and gatherings according to the California Department of Public Health website.
This decision was made after the Santa Clara County Public Health Department moved back into the purple tier because of the rise of COVID-19 cases.
In the purple tier, non-essential indoor businesses, like gyms and movie theaters, are closed. All due to the county reporting more than 7 positive cases per 100,000 people daily.
Anthony Yoshida, a political science senior, said over the phone that he wasn’t surprised that the county went back into the purple tier.
“People that I have on Snapchat on campus, they're still having parties together,” he said. “If college students aren't taking it seriously who's to say that anyone else is.”
SJSU President Mary Papazian announced in a Nov. 16 campus wide email that the university would close the Spartan Recreation and Aquatic Center (SRAC), Diaz Compean Student Union and Spartan Bookstore.
Kenneth Mashinchi, senior director of media relations at SJSU, said in an email that the university decided to close the facilities to reduce large student gatherings.
“Reducing density on campus and concentrated cleaning of commonly used areas on campus are ways SJSU continues to keep students safe on campus,” he said.
Dr. Barbara Fu, medical director for the health and wellness center at SJSU, said there isn’t an exact reason as to why COVID-19 cases are rising again, but that the increase in cases can be related to multiple things such as colder weather and people being indoors, events, re-openings and the holidays.
“Being outdoors around others is safer than being indoors with people,” she said.
