A few weeks back, as millennial and Gen Z spring breakers were flippantly ignoring the severity of the coronavirus crisis in order to mingle with one another in South Florida, America rolled its eyes.

Sure, the situation was completely uncalled for, but the fact that it took place in Florida led many to chalk it up to just another instance where the Sunshine State out-dumbs the rest of the country.  Toss in the naivety and arrogance of the liberal youth, and it was almost expected that something like that would have been taking place.

But California is different.

We often imagine coastal Californians as government-dependent followers who pay exorbitant taxes and succumb to ridiculous overregulation on the regular.  We never expected that the Golden State masses would ignore the warnings of their government when it came to COVID-19.

Yet, here we are.

California will step up enforcement of coronavirus-related public health restrictions after crowds jammed beaches over the weekend, Governor Gavin Newsom said on Monday.

Newsom’s announcement came after local officials in Orange and Ventura Counties allowed access to their beaches even as state parks remained closed, prompting families and groups to head to the ocean on a warm spring weekend.

The crowds put at risk the state’s progress in slowing the advance of the novel coronavirus and possibly could delay a possible loosening of restrictions that was just weeks away, said Newsom, a Democrat.

The beach crowds exemplify the tension that officials throughout the United States are dealing with as residents chafe under stay-at-home orders and some states begin to loosen them.

Newsom would go on to say that the punishments would be doled out with some discrimination however, and that authorities would be targeting those who appear to be “thumbing their nose” at the current social distancing protocols.