Los Angeles County is ordering nonessential businesses to close to the public and for residents to stop gathering outside of the home as it hustles to stop the community spread of the novel coronavirus.
The order, which initially applied to nonessential retailers and to gatherings of 10 or more people, was strengthened on Saturday. Under the revised order, businesses deemed nonessential can continue operating, but employees must telecommute.
In announcing the “safer-at-home” order Thursday, Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger implored residents “not to panic.” She said residents can still go for walks and shop for groceries and pick up medicine.
It “does not mean restrictions from going outside,” Barger said. “It does not mean isolation.”
That holds true. But those who get outside must practice social distancing, Los Angeles Eric Garcetti implored residents on Sunday night. He said that over the weekend, after the order was announced, he saw too many people packed in at beaches and on trails.
“This is serious: six feet matters,” he said, referring to the distance that health experts say needs to be maintained between people. “There is no exception to this rule.”
The cities of Los Angeles, Long Beach, and Pasadena have announced similar orders to the county’s. (View a fact sheet on the city of Los Angeles order here). The orders are set to expire April 19, but may be extended.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom also issued a statewide “stay-at-home” order Thursday with similar provisions. It will be in place “until further notice.”
Under LA’s revised order, all “nonessential” businesses, including indoor malls, must close, along with playgrounds. All gatherings outside of the home are prohibited. The county had already ordered the closure of bars, movie theaters, gyms, and entertainment venues. Restaurants must remain take-out only.
Grocery stores, healthcare providers, outdoor farmers markets, gas stations, and dry cleaners can stay open. News media, food delivery companies, electricians, plumbers, healthcare operators, and transportation services are allowed to keep operating. But they all must institute social distancing practices, according to Los Angeles County Health Department director Dr. Barbara Ferrer.
“This order does not prohibit any individual or family from engaging in outdoor activities... such as hiking, walking, biking, or shopping at essential businesses, including grocery stores and restaurants offering delivery, drive thru or carry out services, so long as all persons practice social distancing to the extent possible,” the order reads.
LA County residents had already been urged to hunker down. But officials had, until Thursday night, not gone so far as to mandate it.
Health orders are legally-binding, meaning violators can be cited for a misdemeanor. But officials said they would take a “light touch” to enforcement and are asking residents to self-comply for the health and safety of the entire community.
“This is not a request—this is an order,” said Garcetti. “There are too many people who were in work situations, retail situations, where they were coming into contact [with potential carriers.]”
Garcetti stressed that the order is not a “shelter-in-place” directive and is not a lockdown, those are terms, he said, that should be reserved for incidents like school shootings.
It was issued hours after the public health department announced a second death and 40 new cases of COVID-19. As of today, the number of cases in Los Angeles County stands at 409. Five people have died.
“I know how stressful this is to each one of us... we’re about to enter into a new way of living in Los Angeles for a period,” the mayor said, noting that he made the decision with a “heavy heart.”
Comments
The healthcare system in SF is already overwhelmed – they are pretty much where Italy was at a week ago. Italy and UK are on lockdown and China shut down 16 cities. Why LA and NY are not locked down is beyond me.
By LADude on 03.18.20 4:30pm
In all 10 counties associated with the Bay Area, from Sonoma down to Santa Clara, there is a current total of 420 cases (as of 12:49pm today), with 51 cases in San Francisco. Even if you assume that 20% of these cases require hospital visits (in reality it’s more like 10%), that’s only 10 or 11 COVID-19 victims currently requiring hospitalization in all of SF. So I’m wondering where you get this news that their healthcare system is "already overwhelmed". Not picking a fight, just curious. And yes I know the numbers will grow.
By mtkscat on 03.18.20 4:58pm
https://medium.com/@tomaspueyo/coronavirus-act-today-or-people-will-die-f4d3d9cd99ca
This will explain everything MTKSCAT. The growth is exponential, and it’s invisible. It’s spreading, but you can’t see it NOW, you will see it in the FUTURE 2-4 weeks later, after the incubation period. In particular, I strongly suggest you download the author’s excel chart after reading the article above and play around with the author’s mathematical model. It will let you input and guesstimate what % of the population will get the coronavirus tomorrow, next week, etc. and the number of true cases today. Also, what % you will have to get the virus, etc.
By Leheart J. on 03.18.20 9:14pm
Thanks, but I never questioned the spread. I just questioned LADude’s statement that San Francisco hospitals were "already overwhelmed" and "pretty much where Italy was at a week ago" when the actual posted numbers prove otherwise. It’s important that we don’t spread misinformation or panic.
Also, I’ve known about Tomas Pueyo’s article for a few days; as new data continue to come in, many of his assumptions have been thrown into doubt. Bill Gates did a very good AMA on Reddit yesterday which provided a lot of well-informed perspective, you should check it out. https://www.reddit.com/r/Coronavirus/comments/fksnbf/im_bill_gates_cochair_of_the_bill_melinda_gates/
By mtkscat on 03.19.20 9:17am
I’m repeating what was told to me from a nurse in San Francisco. Also, while 10%-20% of all cases may require hospitalization, since we are not testing 100% of people, the actual percent of confirmed cases requiring hospitalization is much more since most of the confirmed cases are confirmed because they require healthcare.
By LADude on 03.19.20 12:51pm
One day you may actually become acquainted with reality, then you’ll be able to discern hyperbole when you’re talking to a "nurse in San Francisco". Until then, keep it to yourself because fake news only stokes fear.
By LosFeliz$ean on 03.19.20 1:43pm
I don’t think we really know the true numbers. The test kits are not out and we are not going door to door; we don’t yet have an accurate count IMO.
By GJJ3000 on 03.19.20 11:37pm
If you’re into it, the ‘epi’ R package is a great tool to play with.
By LosFeliz$ean on 03.19.20 10:23am
I don’t think we really know the true numbers. The test kits are not out and we are not going door to door; we don’t yet have an accurate count IMO.
By GJJ3000 on 03.19.20 11:35pm
Exactly. Is profit more important than health, to some politicians?
By GJJ3000 on 03.19.20 11:33pm
Rhetorical?
By LATEACHER1X on 03.23.20 4:08pm
We are not effectively there. My employer has stated that "we’re not working from home unless the City shuts down." I’ve been coming into work along with my coworkers this entire time. No work from home in sight for me.
By barrettem394 on 03.18.20 4:33pm
State of CA has ordered everyone who can work from home to do so. I would turn in you employer for violating. It’s not worth deaths.
By marsia on 03.18.20 5:08pm
DTLA was literally business-as-usual today when I drove through…was shocked – expected a ghost town
By lax01 on 03.18.20 5:15pm
South Korea managed to stem and turn around the virus spread without stopping work, without closing restaurants, without restricting travel.
They tested a lot of people and asked people who were infected to self isolate, but we obviously cannot do that with Americans. Instead we’ll shutter the entire economy for 2-6 months and hope for the best
By RXBXUXNX on 03.18.20 5:31pm
I can’t for the life of me figure why we don’t have enough tests yet… is it because Trump slashed funding to CDC? Or just a major screwup by the CDC? Both? Neither?
Seems like we should’ve developed and produced millions of tests by now seeing as we had a couple months jump on it.
By corner soul on 03.18.20 6:58pm
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/coronavirus-testing-south-korea-versus-united-states_n_5e729a8fc5b63c3b6489eb9a
By ByeByeLA on 03.18.20 9:25pm
The HuffPo article was actually very detailed and thorough. I thought they would just blame Trump like they always do. Although Trump played his part by initially downplaying everything which cost us about a week or two, the real issue is the bureaucracy and over-regulation in the US. It’s times like these where you need a strong central authority to get shit done – and physically force people to shelter in place, not go party it up at bars and on beaches for spring break.
By LADude on 03.19.20 1:08pm
Certainly seems so… I feel like more of that is coming, the government is just trying to ease us all into it slowly. What a nightmare!
By corner soul on 03.19.20 2:36pm
You say "nightmare", I say incompetence. Remember, it’s not just testing that SK beat us at, rigorous contact tracing leveraging location data has been the real secret sauce behind SK’s relative success at "flattening the curve". We’re not even close, and by the time we actually get on the ball the window for minimizing this will have closed, I fear.
Leadership matters, and our leaders have let us down.
By LosFeliz$ean on 03.19.20 3:06pm
The real nightmare are the citizens themselves, who refuse to understand the value of any interruption to their daily lives. It is eerily reminiscent to the early days of AIDS, where those who were the first to get sick were deemed so different from the rest of us that the threat was not taken seriously. Why should I miss a party just because someone more gay/ less healthy/ etc etc is sick? We all know how well that turned out. When I saw all of the idiot 20 somethings on the beach for Spring Break this week, I had a horrible sense of deja vu. I hope the models are wrong, but I fear they are right.
By All I Wanted Was A Pepsi on 03.22.20 6:27am
It seems massive testing and rigorous contact tracing leveraging location data is beyond us. Poor show indeed.
By LosFeliz$ean on 03.18.20 8:58pm
Today Garcetti Los Angeles announced the homeless will be moved from their tents. The city has 30,000 – 60,000 homeless. That does not include people living in their cars.
At yesterday’s meeting the county told the council that the best policy was to allow the homeless to shelter in place. But today the mayor announced that the homeless will be moved to recreation centers, and hotels and motels. He said the city has received $37 million from the state and they will be providing 1,000 beds across the city.
I wonder why he did not obey what the county said and where will the staff resources come from to move the homeless? At the meeting, housing testified that there had not been one case of the homeless testing positive for the virus. I think moving the homeless under the circumstances will come back to haunt Garcetti.
By GJJ3000 on 03.18.20 7:21pm
So ordinary, tax-paying citizens are forced to lock down for 30 days, but the homeless can do whatever they want? Even when it endangers the lives of others? Even Low T Garcetti is sick of this nonsense.
By TheCaterer on 03.19.20 6:46pm
Yes, I find the thought and rationale of that interesting that the homeless 35 to 60,000 are not subject to the Safer at Home Order.
By GJJ3000 on 03.19.20 11:40pm