Below is a letter that I sent to the Santa Barbara City Council:
I can appreciate that you all are very busy now. However, I am stunned and angered by our city’s submission to the absurd requirements of our state government regarding the COVID-19 virus.
To date there have been 60 deaths out of a county population of 500,000. That is .00012%. Citizens here should be demanding that the county reopen completely.
The officials and politicians who continue to promote false narratives should be voted out of office in November. And the reporting that you see on TV and read in the papers are only continuing the panic by promoting the number of new cases, not the reality that very, very few people in Santa Barbara will die from the virus. Yet the politicians and reporters all insist on ruining people’s lives and our economy. It is time for someone to take a stand for the people of this city and county.
Bill Rice
Santa Barbara
Editor’s note: The letter was submitted before the latest COVID-19 numbers. As of Friday, there have been 77 deaths in the county, according to the Santa Barbara County Public Health Department (publichealthsb.org).