Warnings aren’t enough. SLO — and Cal Poly — need to crack down on COVID-19 violations

It’s not our intent to single out Cal Poly students for shaming — after all, they aren’t alone in violating COVID-19 rules — but we need to face facts.

An outbreak of cases among students is threatening to move the entire county backwards, and if it requires hyper-vigilant enforcement by the university and the city of SLO to prevent that, so be it.

The stakes are too high to look the other way.

The county is in danger of being demoted to the purple tier — the most restrictive level in the state’s color-coded rating system. That would mean restaurants and other businesses would no longer be able offer indoor service, just as dropping temperatures and the possibility of rain make dining al fresco much less appealing than it was during the summer.

While an uptick was expected this fall, there’s been a staggering number of new cases. The San Luis Obispo County Public Health Department reported 128 just on Saturday — a record high for a single day.

Many new cases are Cal Poly students “who are gathering without proper safety precautions,” according to County Public Health.

The university traced the spread of the virus to unapproved, off-campus gatherings hosted by multiple campus sorority chapters, as well as unauthorized gatherings at the Poly Canyon Village apartments.

Also, “a number of students ignored isolation and quarantine orders and interacted with other students known to be positive for COVID-19 without wearing masks and/or maintaining physical distancing,” university officials said in a letter dated Nov. 5.

Without offering specifics, university spokesman Matt Lazier said Cal Poly has taken disciplinary action against some students. There’s a broad range of potential sanctions for violating health and safety rules, up to and including suspension and expulsion.

“While I can’t discuss any specific cases, I can confirm that there have been suspensions this quarter in relation to violations of health and safety guidelines,” Lazier said via email.

City steps up enforcement

The city of San Luis Obispo has been cracking down on off-campus gatherings in SLO’s residential neighborhoods.

“As soon as we became aware of the increased cases related to off-campus student gatherings, we began increased enforcement in coordination with University Police,” City Manager Derek Johnson wrote in an email. “We have issued 147 citations related to parties and gatherings since the beginning of September.”

At the start of the pandemic, the city declared all of San Luis Obispo a safety enhancement zone, which means fines for unruly gatherings, noise violations, open containers, etc., are doubled.

The Police Department also has the ability to write citations for gatherings that violate California public health orders issued on Oct. 9.

Those include:

• No more than three households allowed at a gathering.
• Gatherings must be held outdoors; participants are allowed indoors only to use the restroom.
• Umbrellas, awnings and similar outdoor shelters are allowed, but must be open on at least three sides.
• Gatherings should be short — two hours at most.
• Seats should be at least 6 feet apart.
• Masks should be worn, except when eating and drinking.

More testing planned at Poly

Hopefully, the recent surge in Cal Poly cases is a temporary blip, possibly attributable to Halloween partying.

Also, many if not most Cal Poly students are expected to leave town for Thanksgiving and won’t return until winter quarter begins on Jan. 4. That reduction in population should help lower the case count.

Poly is planning to ramp up monitoring when students return. In mid-January, it will switch from nasal swabs to saliva testing, making it possible to perform as many as 4,000 tests per day.

It also plans to test sewage from on-campus residence halls, so it can pinpoint any hotspots.

That’s helpful, but it’s no magic bullet.

The city of San Luis Obispo has been testing wastewater for genetic markers of COVID-19 for the past seven weeks.

That didn’t prevent outbreaks, though according to the city manager, it did help identify areas that would benefit from additional outreach and testing.

Monitoring is an important tool, but until there’s a vaccine, there’s no getting around the need for masks, physical distancing and avoiding large get-togethers.

Not exactly what students had in mind when they imagined their college experience.

It’s harsh, but risky behavior threatens the physical, financial and emotional health of the entire community — not just Cal Poly students.

We urge the university to not only continue to enforce COVID-19 regulations, but to also be more transparent in announcing sanctions that are taken. We aren’t talking about naming and shaming, but there should be some acknowledgment that risky behavior has consequences.

Cities, too, should redouble their efforts to gain compliance, especially when it comes to large private gatherings that often fly under the radar but are one of the big sources of spread.

Much as we would all like things to be back to normal, they are still far from it. California has so far escaped the big surge in cases some other states are experiencing, but we, too, are seeing infections climb. On Tuesday, state officials announced that 11 counties had fallen back to a more restrictive tier.

If we don’t want San Luis Obispo County to join them, we all have to do our part — including those charged with enforcing the rules.