No citations were issued to people protesting over the weekend in San Diego and Encinitas in violation of state and county health orders, but that could change.
"While no citations were issued at the protests, that does not mean prosecution will not be sought," the San Diego Police Department and San Diego Sheriff's Department said in a joint statement Monday. "Especially to the organizers of these events."
The statement also said during the pandemic, agencies must weigh, "The delicate balance between the right to protest and enforcement of public safety laws."
More than 100 people turned out in downtown San Diego Saturday protesting California's stay-at-home order, meant to slow the spread of the coronavirus. A similar rally was held Sunday in Encinitas. Some did not seem to be protesting restrictions so much as to show their support to reelect President Donald Trump.
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Recent polling shows a majority of Americans favor social distancing guidelines. At most, a few hundred people out of the more than 3 million county residents turned out for the weekend rallies.
Health officials have banned public gatherings and imposed social distancing restrictions which were largely ignored by protesters. County Public Health Officer Dr. Wilma Wooten said it’s worrisome people were not following orders meant to protect people.
"We are definitely concerned about that," Wooten said. "As everyone could see over the weekend people were not adhering to the social distancing strategies, 6 feet between individuals if they are not family members and most individuals were not wearing any type of facial covering."
Wooten said officials would look to see if clusters of cases are traced to the rallies, but noted that would be difficult.
"We will see if we see any change in the number of cases over the next couple of weeks," she said.
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Other San Diegans have been cited for violating state and county health orders. Some are expressing frustration that protesters were not cited.
"Why couldn’t we have at least held those attending the protest accountable for social distancing?" asked Shane Harris of the People's Alliance for Justice.
"What we saw this weekend was complete ignorance," he said. "No kind of social distancing, no kind of respect of public health orders, social distancing or wearing masks."
Harris is calling on San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer for an explanation and wants tickets to be issued.
"We’re asking that they (protesters) would be issued citations for these public health gatherings that put the public health and safety at risk for many in our county," Harris said.
The joint sheriff and San Diego police statement also said, "Although the protests were allowed to take place, we must not forget the public health orders were put in place to protect our communities from the spread of COVID-19."
Organizers of Saturday's downtown rally said they were planning another.
