Conservative radio host Dennis Prager railed against California Gov. Gavin Newsom's "cruel" and "irrational" lockdowns on Monday, arguing that they have done little to curb the troubling surge of COVID-19 cases in the state.
"The Dennis Prager Show" host and Prager University founder railed against Newsom's latest round of "criminal" restrictions, which prohibit private gatherings of any size and allow only critical infrastructure and retail to remain open. Under the recent order, Bars, hair salons, barbershops, casinos, and indoor and outdoor playgrounds have also been ordered to shut down. Retail stores are limited to 20% capacity and restaurants must operate for take-out and delivery only.
STATE WITH ONE OF THE STRICTEST LOCKDOWNS IN THE COUNTRY HAS MOST COVID CASES
"There is a deep contempt by the Gavin Newsom or the Governor Wolfs' of Pennsylvania ... for the middle class, and a deeper contempt for the person who owns a restaurant," Prager told "The Story."
"They are nuisances. They would never do this to Delta, American, or United, but they are totally prepared to do this to a restaurant."
Prager noted that while he is restricted from dining at a local Los Angeles restaurant, he is permitted to eat an in-flight meal in a confined space seated "two inches" from the passenger next to him.
"Here where I live in Los Angeles, I cannot enter a restaurant, but just last week, I flew from Florida here, I ate on my airplane without a mask, two inches from the person next to me. Now, why is that safe, eating without a mask two inches from people, but I cannot eat without a mask eight feet from another person in a restaurant?" he said.
California surpassed 2 million confirmed cases last week as the state reported a low number of available beds at many intensive care units. In Los Angeles County, the epicenter of the virus in California, the county Department of Public Health on Thursday said around 14,000 residents were testing positive for COVID-19 each day and hospitals were admitting 1,000 new coronavirus patients daily.
The surge calls into question Newsom's strategy to contain the virus in the state, which has seen some of the harshest lockdown measures of any other U.S. state.
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"It is irrational and ultimately, it is evil," Prager said. And he called the global reaction to the pandemic the greatest mistake the world has ever made.
"Hundreds of millions of people are on the edge of starvation as a result," he added. "It is a mass hysteria and evil the likes of which we have not seen."
Fox News' Louis Casiano contributed to this report.