Los Angeles County’s stay-at-home orders will “with all certainty” be extended for subsequent three months, county Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer acknowledged during a Board of Supervisors meeting Tuesday.
Ferrer later added that albeit the orders remain in situ through the summer, restrictions are going to be “gradually relaxed” under a five-step plan.
“We are being guided by science and data which will safely move us forward along the road to recovery during a measured way—one that permits us to make sure that effective distancing and infection control measures are in situ,” Ferrer said, adding that the county is relying on the public’s compliance with the orders to be ready to relax restrictions.
Testifying before the Board of Supervisors, Ferrer stressed further progress are going to be guided by efforts to contain the virus. l. a. The county is now the Calfornia epicenter of the coronavirus, with quite 1,300 deaths thus far.
“Our hope is that by using the info, we’d be ready to slowly lift restrictions over the subsequent three months,” she said. But without widely available testing for the coronavirus or rapid home kits that might allow people to check themselves daily, it seems unlikely that the social distancing directives and stay-at-home orders would be completely eased.
On Tuesday afternoon, l. a. County Supervisor Kathryn Barger also expressed hope there might be more easing in the coming weeks.
“I am wanting to reopen more of Los Angeles County as soon as it’s safe to try to so, together with our health experts, community leaders, businesses and residents, with best practices in situ to make sure our overall health and well-being. These decisions are going to be guided by the newest science and data collected,” she said during a statement."I’m confident that the more our communities still comply, the earlier we will resume normalcy.”
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti echoed Barger’s comments, saying that the town will still adjust orders to remain home gradually so as to permit more activities and more businesses to work.
“We’re not moving past COVID-19, we’re learning to measure with it, and that we will keep taking measured steps toward a replacement, safer reality within the days and weeks ahead,” he said during a statement.
Ferrer’s comments came shortly before Gov. Gavin Newsom announced that he was modifying the state’s stay-at-home orders to permit individual counties to approve the reopening of malls for curbside pickup service only. The order also allows for the reopening of some offices if teleworking isn't feasible.
“We aren’t out of the woods yet,” Newsom reminded residents.
In Los Angeles County, confirmed cases and deaths have continued to rise.
When beaches reopen in the week, how people can use the sand will look different. Face coverings are going to be required when not within the water, and sunbathing won’t be allowed. Only active recreation — surfing, running, walking and swimming — are going to be permitted. Coolers, chairs, umbrellas and any of the opposite accessories that typically dot the shoreline should be left reception.
The update to L.A.'s stay-at-home orders comes as officials attempt to meet two needs: restarting the economy under a replacement normal while also ensuring that the resurgence inactivity doesn’t upend progress within the fight against the coronavirus.
There has been an enormous push in recent weeks to reopen the state’s economy, which has been hurt by the stay-at-home orders. Newsom last week announced new protocols for retail stores and a few workplaces to reopen.
Under the plan, some in-restaurant dining, car washes and shopping malls could even be allowed to reopen in the coming weeks if public health officials during a county are ready to demonstrate that the spread of the virus has stabilized which they need adequate testing and hospital capacity.
Some rural counties that have seen relatively few cases are likely to be ready to meet those benchmarks more quickly than urban counties like l. a.
A Times data analysis last week found most big California counties aren't on the brink of meeting Newsom’s standards. The analysis checked out which counties could pass just the primary two criteria — whether deaths have stopped within the last 14 days, and whether there's no quite one case per 10,000 residents therein same period of time.
Most of California failed that test. In fact, 95% of Californians sleep in counties that don’t meet that standard, the days analysis found. Not one county in Southern California nor the San Francisco Bay Area met the standards.
Newsom suggested Friday that the rules would be later modified on a statewide basis, allowing larger counties hit hardest by the outbreak to also reopen more broadly. “Over the subsequent few weeks, we’ll be making subsequent announcements for the whole state, not just people who meet those more restrictive criteria,” he said.
On Tuesday, he also explained the rules for restaurants in some counties to open for dine-in service, including disposable menus and stress on outdoor seating. He also suggested that customers be screened for symptoms.
Also on Tuesday, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top communicable disease expert, warned members of the U.S. Senate that states that push too quickly to ease orders could undo the progress that might trigger an epidemic. Fauci said a 14-day decline in cases is that the major benchmark that states should meet before reopening.
As other California regions have seen a decline within the number of reported infections and COVID-19-related deaths, Los Angeles County, the state’s most populous, continues to ascertain growth on both fronts. The county reported Tuesday a further 961 people that tested positive for the virus, and a further 45 deaths, bringing the price to 1,613. L.A. County’s COVID-19 deaths account for quite half the state’s total.
Officials have noted that the numbers reported at the beginning of the week are typically lower, largely because testing isn't at full capacity on weekends.
Nearly 253,000 individuals of L.A. County’s 10 million residents are checked for the virus and roughly 11% — quite 32,000 — are infected. Officials are encouraging all residents, even those without symptoms, to urge tested.
Officials have said that social distancing has helped slow the spread of the virus, but even have warned that it remains contagious.
“It’s safer to remain reception. COVID-19 has not changed,” Ferrer reminded residents Monday.
Some neighboring counties that are easing restrictions also still see increases in cases and deaths. Riverside County, where officials voted Friday to lift requirements for face coverings, reported 150 new cases Monday and 12 additional deaths.
In Orange County, 45 more cases and one death were reported Tuesday because the number of hospitalizations — a count that fluctuates by the day counting on what percentage of the county’s eligible 25 hospitals report statistics — rose to 230.
Meanwhile, in Santa Clara County, which was once the most well-liked spot for infections within the state, the amount of cases has declined. Officials reported two additional cases Monday and 0 deaths. Santa Clara is one of six Bay Area counties that have extended shelter-in-place orders.
Also Tuesday, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors debated whether to increase the county’s eviction moratorium to assist renters who could also be struggling financially due to the pandemic. Supervisors Sheila Kuehl and Hilda Solis proposed extending it until Aug. 31.
Kuehl said she based her proposed date off the Department of Public Health’s guidance that a minimum of a number of the stay-at-home restrictions would be extended for the subsequent three months. She added that the board’s got to vote on the moratorium monthly would create “amazing anxiety” for renters.
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