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That decision sparked a backlash from restaurant owners and some elected officials, who called the rules too punishing for the already struggling industry. As the number of new coronavirus cases continued to rise in Los Angeles County, health officials issued a temporary and limited stay-at-home order Friday that will take effect Monday. Virtually the entire state — 54 out of 58 counties — remains in the most restrictive purple tier.
In the United States, there are more than 31,174 confirmed cases of the virus. Mayor Eric Garcetti issues a "safer at home" health order stopping non-essential activities outside of residences in response to COVID-19. As the pandemic continues, we've put together a timeline to make sense of the pivotal moments in the state and Southern California region. Hannah Fry is a Metro reporter covering Orange County for the Los Angeles Times. She joined the newspaper in 2013 as a reporter for the Daily Pilot, a Times Community News publication. Fry most recently covered breaking news for The Times and was part of the team that was a 2020 Pulitzer finalist for its coverage of a boat fire that killed 34 people off the coast of Santa Barbara.
Are COVID-19 Cases Going Down in Silver Lake?
Some of the information in this story may have changed after publication. For the latest on COVID-19, readers are encouraged to use online resources from CDC, WHO, and local public health departments. PEOPLE has partnered with GoFundMe to raise money for the COVID-19 Relief Fund, a GoFundMe.org fundraiser to support everything from frontline responders to families in need, as well as organizations helping communities. "During this time, we will still move forward with our efforts to ease restrictions aligned with appropriate public health safety protocols," they said, according to The Signal. "Changes to the order will be continuously considered after reviewing the data every three to four weeks during this time."
The rapid rise has taken public health officials by surprise, outpacing a troubling summer surge when average cases increased 43%. As total confirmed coronavirus cases in California approach 1.3 million, Los Angeles residents have been ordered to remain in their homes, while all non-essential activities are prohibited under a new lockdown order issued by Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti on Wednesday. But fittingly for a year in which Los Angeles city and county officials have often failed to communicate clearly, Garcetti’s office later told ABC News that things are pretty much the same as they were before the announcement.
Some retail, recreational facilities open with restrictions
Businesses are allowed to remain open but with limited capacity, and the same is true of nail salons and other personal care services. It featured eating at a restaurant for the first time since the pandemic began. The experience included physical barriers, which are being used to create new outdoor dining areas on city streets, sidewalks, and private parking lots. It’s all part of the Al Fresco Glendale program, designed to help struggling restaurants increase their seating capacity. "We are being guided by science and data that will safely move us forward along the road to recovery in a measured way — one that allows us to ensure that effective distancing and infection control measures are in place," she later said in a statement, The Signal reported.
It imposes new occupancy limits on businesses, such as personal care and retail, but does not close them. Beaches, trails and parks will remain open, but gatherings of people from more than one household at those sites are banned. Public health officials have regularly defended the ban, saying that activities involving people spending extended periods of time in close proximity with those outside their homes while not wearing a mask heightens the risk of coronavirus transmission. Ferrer said other measures — including the prohibition on outdoor dining and rules that halted operations of nonessential businesses between 10 p.m.
Long COVID
L.A. County public health officials on Saturday announced they will issue an order suspending outdoor dining at restaurants amid a surge of new coronavirus cases. Personal care services, such as hair and nail salons, can open for indoor operations at 25% capacity; tourism and individual travel is permitted at hotels and motels; and outdoor private gatherings of up to three households and a total of 15 people are now allowed. Los Angeles County health officials warned Friday that the region needs to significantly increase social distancing to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus and that stay-at-home restrictions could remain into the summer. The predictive analysis which models the impending surge provides a depiction of the best- and worst-case scenarios for Los Angeles should physical distancing efforts continue and to what degree. The model projects that if we reverted to pre-order physical distancing behavior now, by August 1, 95.6% of Los Angeles County residents will likely have been infected over the course of the pandemic. Under this worst-case scenario, Los Angeles County would face an infection rate at such magnitude that the healthcare system would not be able to treat patients who need hospitalization, underscoring the need to continue to maintain current levels of physical distancing.
The city of Los Angeles opens up COVID-19 vaccination appointments for anyone over the age of 16, five days ahead of its original planned date. Stanford Health experts confirm the new double mutation of the coronavirus in at least one case in Santa Clara County and suspect there are more. Starting Monday, Angelenos no longer need an appointment to get a COVID-19 test at sites operated by thecity of Los Angeles.
Officials could not provide a definitive answer as to when the stay-at-home order will ease. Golf courses, tennis courts, pickleball, archery ranges, skate parks, bike parks and community gardens remain open for individuals or members of a single household. Swimming pools that serve more than one household may open only for regulated lap swimming. The restrictions, which will last for three weeks, are not as severe as those imposed in the spring.
"My message couldn't be simpler. It's time to hunker down. It's time to cancel everything. And if it's not essential, don't do it. Don't meet up with others outside your household. Don't host a gathering. Don't attend a gathering," the mayor said in a video message Wednesday. Citing the rising threat of “a devastating tipping point” in the spread of COVID-19, the city of Los Angeles on Wednesday announced a new stay-at-home order, effective immediately. However, the announcement caused considerable confusion when its tone didn’t quite match the sweeping number of exceptions, and within hours of announcing the order the city confirmed that nothing much had changed. "It is absolutely the single most important weapon that we have in our arsenal to fight the virus." Staying at the current levels of physical distancing would still result in 29.8% of residents being infected by Aug. 1.
California is expected to be hitting the peak of the pandemic right now, well under the expected numbers. This is obviously good, for it means the measures in place were able to keep people at home and protected. It might be frustrating for the government to keep moving the finish line and pushing the end of this quarantine. However, we need to understand that these measures have been in place with our best interests in mind. Officials are concerned that hospitals could see a shortage of beds — especially in intensive care units — over the next two to four weeks if these trends continue.
But hospitals are better equipped now than they were in the spring to handle a surge in cases, treatment for COVID-19 has significantly improved, and hospitals can cancel elective surgeries to make more room. Los Angeles County reported 1,730 new cases of COVID-19 and 94 additional deaths, while the number of coronavirus patients in county hospitals continued to trend downward. Los Angeles County health officials launched aone-day Twitter campaignThursday to remind residents of the toll of the coronavirus and pay tribute to those who lost their lives amid the pandemic.
In those areas, indoor operations will remain suspended or severely limited at many businesses and other public facilities. Orange County has been a regular source of opposition to state coronavirus-related directives throughout the pandemic. Some restaurants have defied the order to shutter outdoor dining entirely, while others continued to serve patrons indoors. The number of Californians hospitalized with the coronavirus surged to a record high for a fourth straight day — soaring above 8,000 amid continued concerns that a sustained spike in patients may eventually swamp the state’s healthcare system. Additional closures of California businesses and activities will be based on projections of regional intensive care unit capacity. The number of Californians hospitalized with coronavirus surged to a record high for a fourth straight day — soaring above 8,000 amid continued concerns that a sustained spike in patients may eventually swamp the state’s healthcare system.
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