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Written by: Lake County News reports

Published: 24 December 2020

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – As Californians prepare for the Christmas holiday during the COVID-19 pandemic, the California Highway Patrol reminds everyone the rules of safe driving are just as critical as ever.

Although traffic may be lighter this holiday season, it is not an invitation to speed.

The rules of the road still apply, and motorists should avoid driving tired, impaired or distracted.

California has instituted a regional stay at home order throughout most of the state and is advising residents to stay close to home as much as possible and not travel significant distances.

If you must travel, the CHP wants to remind you of some important traffic safety tips to help you arrive safely: Drive sober, avoid distractions, always buckle up, and leave plenty of time to get to your destination.

“The CHP wants to ensure your safety throughout this unprecedented year,” said CHP Commissioner Amanda Ray. “We are hopeful that the public will do their part and remember to make safety a priority.”

Safeguarding California’s roadways through the upcoming Christmas holiday, the CHP will implement a maximum enforcement period, which begins at 6:01 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 24, and concludes at 11:59 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 27.

During that time, all available officers will be on the road for enhanced enforcement and to assist any drivers in need of help.

The mission of the CHP is to provide the highest level of safety, service and security.

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Written by: Lake County News reports

Published: 24 December 2020

NORTH COAST, Calif. – COVID-19 testing is underway at the Mendocino County Jail where several staffers and inmates have tested positive for the virus.

Lt. John Bednar of the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office said a corrections deputy at the Mendocino County Jail had been off work with an illness and, per policy, received testing for COVID-19.

On Saturday, the corrections deputy reported to jail administration that he had taken a COVID-19 test and received a positive result, Bednar said.

Working with Mendocino County Human Resources, contact tracing was immediately done. Bednar said two employees were identified as being potentially exposed and were subsequently tested.

On Monday, one of those employees received a positive test. Bednar said an additional employee reported feeling ill and submitted to COVID-19 testing, and was also found to be positive that same date.

Because of the positive results, Bednar said jail administration reached out to Mendocino County Public Health, which arranged for testing kits for all staff members. Testing began for all staff members on Tuesday.

The Mendocino County Public Health Department also worked to secure test kits so that all of the inmate population and corrections staff can be tested. Bednar said testing has begun and will continue until all inmates and staff have been tested.

On Tuesday evening, three male inmates reported feeling ill with flu-like symptoms. On-site jail medical staff from Naphcare responded immediately and began testing the three inmates. Bednar said the three inmates all tested positive for COVID-19.

Based on those results, Bednar said the housing unit in which they were assigned was quarantined, following the jail’s COVID-19 policy, to avoid any potential spread of the virus.

On Wednesday morning, a fourth male inmate from a different housing unit, complaining of flu-like symptoms, was tested and found to be positive, Bednar said. Again, following the jail’s COVID-19 policy, the housing unit in which the inmate was housed was placed on quarantine.

In addition to the normal cleaning of the jail, a deep cleaning of the jail was performed by staff following the positive findings, Bednar said.

The Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office thanked Bekke Emery and her staff for their quick response in assisting it and providing the necessary testing supplies so that testing can be completed for the safety of inmates and staff.

“Working with our partners at the Public Health Department, we will continue working to keep the staff and residents within the Mendocino County Jail safe,” Bednar said.

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Written by: UC BERKELEY HAAS SCHOOL OF BUSINESS

Published: 24 December 2020

In the midst of the raging coronavirus pandemic, we’re faced with agonizing decisions about whether to forgo treasured holiday rituals.

Many people have defied health officials, putting themselves at risk of contracting COVID-19 or spreading the disease in order to uphold their family traditions in person.

A new paper by two researchers at UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business sheds light on the psychology of rituals – and why health officials may have to do more than just tell people not to gather in order to be effective.

That's because coming together to exchange gifts on Christmas isn’t just about getting presents; it’s a symbol of love. Eating turkey on Thanksgiving isn’t just a shared meal; it’s an expression of gratitude.

“We view rituals as more important than regular types of group activities because they reflect the values of the group,” said Dan Stein, a Berkeley Haas doctoral student and lead author on the paper.

“When people alter activities that are more ritualistic, it elicits stronger moral outrage,” said Juliana Schroeder, an assistant professor in the Haas Management of Organizations Group and the paper’s co-author. Pitting pandemic social distancing against the values of love and togetherness represented by the holidays creates moral conflict for many people. “If messages from officials to social distance are going to be successful, they must come up with a response to these strong group values.”

The paper, forthcoming in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, examines the psychology of rituals through seven experimental studies that drive home just how strongly people feel about traditions. It was co-written by Harvard Business School professors Francesca Gino and Michael Norton along with Nicholas Hobson, founder of The Behaviorist consulting firm.

"From Catholics performing the sign of the cross since the fourth century to Americans reciting the Pledge of Allegiance since the 1890s, group rituals have strikingly consistent features over time," the researchers wrote. "Because group rituals symbolize sacred group values, even minor alterations to them provoke moral outrage and punishment."

In one experiment, the researchers asked Berkeley undergraduate students to rate 15 holidays according to how ritualistic they were. They then asked them to rate on a scale of 1 to 7 how angry and frustrated they would feel if the U.S. government “moved celebrations for the holiday one week forward,” and also how immoral and inappropriate it would be to change the date. The more ritualistic the holiday, the higher it scored on both scales, signifying stronger “moral outrage” about altering it. Christmas and New Year’s scored above 5 on both scales, while Columbus Day scored as a 2 on both.

Change for the sake of good

In other experiments, they found that altering a ritual elicits moral outrage even if a person has a good reason for doing so.

When they asked participants – all U.S. citizens – how they would feel if they saw another citizen remaining seated rather than standing for the Pledge of Allegiance, participants reported outrage even when they were told the person was sitting to show solidarity with Americans with disabilities.

Participants expressed even more outrage, however, when told that the person was sitting to protest U.S. values – indicating that the reason for the change was important – and they were also upset if told that the person had forgotten to stand. Their irritation only subsided when they were told the person was injured and physically unable to stand.

Even changes that might make a ritual safer elicit moral outrage, they found.

In another experiment, the researchers asked Jewish participants how they would feel if a circumcision ceremony – a highly ritualized event occurring the same way for thousands of years – was done in a hospital rather than at a temple. Over 80 percent of respondents agreed that a hospital ceremony would be safer, and yet they also reported more anger about the suggestion of moving the circumcision ceremony to a hospital rather than keeping it the same, even if it was riskier.

“People don’t want to have to pit one sacred value against another,” Stein said. “While medical safety represents the sacred value of life in Judaism, circumcision stands for a literal blood covenant with God. That creates an uncomfortable conflict in people’s minds.”

Commitment to group values

In fact, the researchers found that the study participants who were most committed to U.S. values expressed the most outrage about changing holiday traditions.

“We theorize that moral outrage is functional in the long-run because it can help a group protect its sacred rituals,” Stein said. “We need those people who are committed for the group to survive, but our research suggests that trying to tell people, ‘By not practicing your ritual, you’ll save lives,’ might not be effective for everyone.”

The challenge for families trying to stay safe during the pandemic is how to alter rituals in ways that keep their values intact, even if getting together physically isn’t possible. “This research suggests that to reduce outrage when altering rituals, you should try to change them in ways that still allow people to celebrate group values,” said Schroeder. “That’s what people are getting upset about when the ritual is altered – and that’s the thing that needs to be maintained.”