LA County Faces New Stay-at-Home Order Starting Saturday Due to COVID Surge
- par Rene Duval
- dans Sport
- — Nov 20, 2020
There have been a total of 8,975 new cases reported over the last two days, said the release, adding that the county is experiencing "a unsafe acceleration of cases that is increasing at a higher rate than the July surge". Hospitalizations have topped 1,100, a rise of 30% in that period.
In the meantime, LA County was already scheduled to implement new restrictions on Friday, including limiting indoor capacity to 25% at all non-essential businesses and outdoor service at restaurants and breweries to 50% capacity.
Santa Clara County - Northern California's most populous, which is often a bellwether for the rest of the Bay Area - has seen a tripling of its average daily caseload in the last month.
The county said it expects cases to continue to surge, and officials said they plan to further tighten regulations if necessary.
West Hollywood saw an increase of 20 new cases while Los Angeles County saw a staggering 5,031 new cases.
Employees are reminded if you need to go onsite to work, wear a face covering, practice distancing and follow all other infection control requirements.
If the cases keep increasing at this pace, LA County may be placed under a new Safer at Home lockdown order, as happened in March, as early as Monday.
According to the county, if the five-day average of new cases reaches 4,000, or if hospitalizations top 1,750, outdoor dining at restaurants, breweries and wineries will end, with the businesses restricted to pick-up and delivery service only. The daily number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 has increased almost every day since November 2 when daily hospitalizations were 777. The curfew hours run 10 p.m.to 5 a.m., but exempts essential workers. LA County now has a cumulative total 353,232 with a total of 7,363 deaths. "Lives and livelihoods are at stake and our entire community will be affected by our collective action if we do the right thing".
"This is a different kind of moment, a new level of danger", Garcetti said. "We've done it before and we must do it again".
He also bashed notions that the virus is less unsafe than the flu, noting that an estimated 3,133 people died during the 2019-2020 flu season in the county.
Residents of Yolo County and all other counties in the state's purple tier will be subject to a curfew beginning Saturday and lasting through December 21.
The announcement came a day after California Gov. Gavin Newsom deployed an "emergency brake" on 28 counties and moved them into the most restrictive of four tiers for reopening. Services that require either the provider or the consumer to be mask-less will not be allowed.
