What to Know
- Los Angeles County might face extra enterprise closures in an effort to sluggish the COVID-19 virus unfold.
- COVID-19 circumstances have flooded hospitals with sufferers and led to deaths roughly each six minutes.
- All such companies are already working beneath strict 20% capability limits beneath a regional stay-at-home order.
With a continued surge in COVID-19 circumstances that has flooded hospitals with sufferers and led to deaths roughly each six minutes, Los Angeles County might face extra enterprise closures in an effort to sluggish the virus unfold, with a call probably coming as early as Friday.
The nonprofit on-line publication Capital & Important, citing unnamed county sources, reported Thursday evening that the county Board of Supervisors will maintain a closed-door dialogue Friday to think about extra infection-control measures, together with doable closures of indoor buying malls and different non-essential companies.
All such companies are already working beneath strict 20% capability limits beneath a regional stay-at-home order imposed by the state because of a scarcity of intensive-care unit beds throughout Southern California.
In keeping with the county web site, the Board of Supervisors will probably be holding a particular closed-door assembly at 1 p.m. Friday. The 2 agenda gadgets are a gathering with authorized counsel relating to “important publicity to litigation” and a efficiency analysis of county division heads.
Throughout a media briefing Wednesday, county Public Well being Director Barbara Ferrer wouldn’t rule out the opportunity of extra well being restrictions being imposed, notably in mild of hovering COVID an infection numbers, hospitalizations and deaths. She additionally famous the doubtless presence within the county of a brand new coronavirus variant first found in the UK. The brand new pressure of the virus doesn’t make folks sicker, however it’s much more contagious, that means it may unfold extra quickly from individual to individual, quickly driving case numbers even larger.
“Present projections by the specialists predict that if left unchecked, this variant might dominate regionally by March,” Ferrer mentioned.
She urged residents to proceed adhering to present well being restrictions, whereas suggesting extra could also be wanted.
“We must be ready to do extra if circumstances stay excessive,” she mentioned.
“The work forward requires us to take each motion mandatory to scale back transmission.”
Requested Thursday evening about doable new enterprise closures or different restrictions, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti mentioned, “That is one thing I do know that the county is taking a look at.”
“I believe it is the plain classes of issues folks have checked out – whether or not or not colleges keep open and closed, whether or not out of doors gyms and leisure youth leagues keep open and closed, indoor malls, retail, issues like that,” Garcetti mentioned.
The mayor mentioned that given the potential hazard of the UK variant of the virus, “we have now to at all times be open and I’ll at all times comply with the science and the recommendation of our public well being (leaders) … and the county supervisors, who I do know are making very troublesome choices and are unbelievable leaders proper now attempting to determine whether or not or not there must be additional closures.”
Ferrer famous this week that office outbreaks have risen dramatically in current weeks, serving to to drive the surge in circumstances, probably lending credence to a doable shutdown of extra companies.
Garcetti echoed the priority about workplaces Thursday, saying important employees are at heightened hazard of being contaminated with COVID and spreading it to their households.
“We have reached that breaking level the place too many important employees in our denser neighborhoods must go to work, are coming house and are spreading that,” he mentioned.
The mayor mentioned the area might probably keep away from stricter enterprise restrictions if case numbers ease.
“However the second it goes up, like we noticed in December, at any tempo like that, that’s completely one thing we can not maintain, and most significantly, our hospitals can not, and we might transfer into disaster mode there,” he mentioned.
