Posted by Brian Melley Associated Press
LOS ANGELES – County Los Angeles announced a new home order on Friday as coronavirus cases in the nation’s most populous county remained under control.
The three-week order takes effect on Monday. This happened when the county confirmed 24 new deaths and 4,544 new confirmed COVID-19 cases.
The county has set a threshold for issuing a residence home order: there were an average of 4,500 cases per day over a five-day period, but this level was not expected until the following month.
However, the five-day average of new cases reported on Friday was 4,751.
“We know we ask a lot from so many who have been sacrificing for months,” said Barbara Ferrer, director of public health. “Acting with collective urgency is essential if we are to stop this wave.”
The decree advises residents to stay at home “as much as possible” and wear face shield if they go out. It prohibits people from gathering with others who do not live in their household, either publicly or privately.
Exceptions, however, are church services and protests, which are “constitutionally protected rights,” the county Department of Public Health said in a statement.
Retail businesses that make most of their profits during Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays can still stay open, but with limited capacity, including nail salons and other personal care services.
Personal dining has not been allowed in restaurants in the county recently. They may continue to offer handover, delivery and pick-up services.
Beaches, trails and parks remain open, with safety requirements.
The order, which runs until December 20, is more modest than the nationwide closure order issued by Governor Gavin Newsom in mid-March. This order closed schools and most businesses and severely restricted movement except for basic workers or performed basic tasks such as buying grocery stores or taking medications.
The restrictions are said to have slowed the spread of COVID-9 and eased some restrictions, but the number of cases increased again in the summer and has reached record levels in recent weeks in much of the state – as well as in most states in the country. .
The number of cases per day in California has broken records in recent days. Nationwide hospital care has increased by more than 80% in the last two weeks. The county has nearly 2,000 residents in hospital, and the new order is part of an effort to prevent the county’s health care system from being overburdened.
Meanwhile, public health officials are preparing for a wave of cases that could follow rallies at Thanksgiving. Officials say it usually takes two to three weeks for such serious cases to appear, but about 12% of those infected can be hospitalized.
Despite its reputation for expansion, Los Angeles has some of the densest environments in the United States. In many of these areas, there are multi-generational households where non-telecommuting luxury workers are exposed to the virus at work or on public transport for their family members.
The number of cases was higher in these communities, and the virus affected disproportionately more Latinos and blacks.
If the infections cannot be controlled, other options for civil servants are even more difficult and are unlikely to be used in the United States, said Dr. George Rutherford, an epidemiologist at the University of California, San Francisco.
China, for example, has tested millions of people and carried out quarantines. Italy introduced the military to carry out the shutdown.
“It’s hard to imagine how far you can go in a society like ours,” he said. “It’s a balancing act, isn’t it?” You want people to obey that, but you don’t want to make me so draconian that people are constantly trying to figure out the circumstances.
