Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco reaffirmed his stance on not enforcing stringent stay-at-home orders, telling the Riverside County Board of Supervisors this week that he refuses to “make criminals out of business owners, single moms, and otherwise healthy individuals for exercising their constitutional rights.”
Eight weeks ago, officials, including Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) “participated in something never done before in our nation’s history,” Bianco began.
Government “ordered residents into their homes, closed their businesses, made them wear masks, forbid them from going to church, and eliminated constitutional freedoms put in place over 200 years ago,” he explained.
“In the name of a public health crisis, our civil liberties and constitutional protections were placed on hold,” he continued.
Officials, Bianco said, have asked a lot of residents over the last two months as part of a greater effort to flatten the curve and prevent hospitals from being completely overwhelmed by coronavirus patients.
WATCH: Dem lawmaker thanks Trump for pardon, says it came as a surprise amid re-election bid
State Department announces renaming USIP ‘Donald J. Trump Institute of Peace’
PA school faces fury after Muslim club’s pro-Palestinian display leaves Jewish students ‘shaken’
Haitian gang leader learns sentence for orchestrating kidnapping of 16 American missionaries
Illinois church Nativity shows baby Jesus zip-tied by ICE agents
GOP dismisses off-year races as Democrats eye 2026 Senate takeover
Trump to Yank SNAP Food Aid from Dem States Who Refuse to Share Data to Catch Fraudsters
Rep Nancy Mace slaps down early retirement rumor: ‘BIG FAT NO from me’
As Trump’s standoff with Maduro deepens, experts warn the next move may force a showdown
Federal Agents Flood New Orleans to Take Down Illegal Immigrant Robbers and Rapists
Dystopia: UK Woman Recalls Being Arrested by Multiple Officers for Hate Crime While She Was Naked, After Sending Harmless Text Message
Decomposed body found in Connecticut after standoff with man who opened fire at police
Adams issues orders blocking NYC from boycotting Israel as clash with Mamdani grows
US Institute of Peace officially renamed for Trump as White House moves to dismantle agency: ‘Congratulations’
Feds arrest felon illegal immigrant after seizing tens of millions in meth stashed in blackberries
“It worked,” he said, listing a series of statistics:
What isn’t being emphasized is that 2,000 of the 4,300 people who have tested positive have already recovered and returned to work. What that means is that out of two and a half million people in Riverside County, we have only 2,300 residents positive with this virus. Statistically, that is less than a tenth of one percent.
Forthcoming decisions from officials should be based on “facts and data, not protections and fear,” he continued, stressing that residents do not need to live in fear and noting that the risk remains low for people without serious medical conditions. However, he urged at-risk residents to remain at home.
Bianco said he did not enforce the stay-at-home order from the beginning, partly because he “trusted our residents’ ability to do the right thing without fear of being arrested” and emphasized that he continues to hold that position:
I knew they could be trusted to act as responsible adults, and I was correct. As we continue, I will reinforce my position. Not only do we not have the resources to enforce unreasonable orders, I refuse to make criminals out of business owners, single moms, and otherwise healthy individuals for exercising their constitutional rights. I believe Riverside County residents are responsible enough to proceed cautiously.
WATCH: Dem lawmaker thanks Trump for pardon, says it came as a surprise amid re-election bid
State Department announces renaming USIP ‘Donald J. Trump Institute of Peace’
PA school faces fury after Muslim club’s pro-Palestinian display leaves Jewish students ‘shaken’
Haitian gang leader learns sentence for orchestrating kidnapping of 16 American missionaries
Illinois church Nativity shows baby Jesus zip-tied by ICE agents
GOP dismisses off-year races as Democrats eye 2026 Senate takeover
Trump to Yank SNAP Food Aid from Dem States Who Refuse to Share Data to Catch Fraudsters
Rep Nancy Mace slaps down early retirement rumor: ‘BIG FAT NO from me’
As Trump’s standoff with Maduro deepens, experts warn the next move may force a showdown
Federal Agents Flood New Orleans to Take Down Illegal Immigrant Robbers and Rapists
Dystopia: UK Woman Recalls Being Arrested by Multiple Officers for Hate Crime While She Was Naked, After Sending Harmless Text Message
Decomposed body found in Connecticut after standoff with man who opened fire at police
Adams issues orders blocking NYC from boycotting Israel as clash with Mamdani grows
US Institute of Peace officially renamed for Trump as White House moves to dismantle agency: ‘Congratulations’
Feds arrest felon illegal immigrant after seizing tens of millions in meth stashed in blackberries
The original projections and fears that caused orders to be put into place in the first place, he added, have been “proven wrong.”
“There cannot be a new normal,” he warned, citing the country’s “fundamental freedoms of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”
“Any new normal is a direct attack on the basic rights, which set us apart and make us the greatest country in the world,” he added.
On Tuesday, Gov. Newsom warned that, despite the state gradually entering into the next phase of economic recovery, California will not return to normal until a vaccine is developed and available.
“We’re not going back to normal. It’s a new normal with adaptations and modifications, until we get to immunity and a vaccine,” he said during Tuesday’s press briefing — something some experts caution may never come to fruition.
Story cited here.
