Assemblyman Jordan Cunningham (R-San Luis Obispo) did not take COVID-19 seriously until he had to.
While his office should get credit for helping residents secure their unemployment benefits during the pandemic, Cunningham called for a reopening of our county in April, just one month into the pandemic. When other cities and counties reopened throughout the state, they were hit with a wave of infections, hospitalizations, and deaths. We would eventually be hit with several waves. And with mounting pressure from politicians like Cunningham, Gov. Gavin Newsom modified the state s phased reopening approach and ultimately developed conditions that resulted in a significant surge of cases and hospitals over capacity last fall. The circumstances led to our state establishing a mutual aid system for our hospitals to accept patients who couldn t be cared for in overburdened hospitals located in other counties.