LOS ANGELES – Officials in the country’s largest county will discuss a possible stay at home a few days before Thanksgiving after coronavir virus outbreaks have exceeded the threshold set by Los Angeles public health officials.
Due to the “stunning and alarming surge” of more than 6,000 new cases, Los Angeles County achieved an average of 4,500 cases per day over a five-day period, public health director Barbara Ferrer said Monday. He refused to take action until county inspectors met on Tuesday.
If the county orders housing for residents at home, it would be the first such action since mid-March, when Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom, led by several counties, followed a nationwide order to close schools and severely restrict movement except for basic workers and because people buy food or eat food.
In November, coronavirus cases and hospitalizations are on the rise in California. The state showed the highest positive result on Saturday, at more than 15,000. There were more than 14,000 cases on Sunday. Hospital care has increased by 77% in the last two weeks.
“At that rate, our hospitals won’t have an extra bed at Christmas,” said Eric Garcetti, the mayor of Los Angeles, about the situation in his city.
Medical centers are prepared to increase capacity and the city plans to set up on-site hospitals if needed, Garcetti said.
Newsom issued a curfew for almost all state residents between 10:00 and 5:00 a.m. and urged residents to avoid essential travel during the typically busiest travel period of the year. Anyone who arrives in California is quarantined for two weeks.
Issuing another home residence order can cause conflict for people who are planning Thanksgiving Day together. Officials urged people not to meet with more than two households and celebrate outdoors and abide by rules of physical distance.
Newsom said Monday that gathering for Thanksgiving is risky, and Ferrer went a step further and called on people to gather only with members of their household.
Despite the advice, millions in California are expected to travel with Thanksgiving, mostly by car. At San Francisco International Airport, flights were down 75% from the same period last year, said Doug Yakel, the airport’s spokesman.
In Los Angeles, the county, with a population of 10 million, accounts for a quarter of the state’s 40 million residents, but it has about a third of the cases and more than a third of the deaths.
The rapid rise came as a surprise to public health officials, ahead of the disturbing summer wave when average cases rose by 43%.
A week ago, Ferrer said he hopes the county will reach an average of 4,000 cases in early December alone and doesn’t think it’s inevitable.
But the newly confirmed cases on Sunday exceeded that threshold and triggered an order that stopped restaurant meals for three weeks from 10am on Wednesday night and further paralyzed the virus-withdrawing industry.
Los Angeles restaurant owners, who had to adapt to ever-changing rules, tried to reinvent their business to stay afloat with just delivery and delivery.
The owners said they were outraged at the county when the infections seemed more likely to come from private rallies.
“The same people who desperately go to bars will party at their house,” said Brittney Valles, owner of Guerrilla Tacos in downtown Los Angeles.
Valles said he broke up on Saturday because he realized that this was the last time – at least for a while – that he might see some of his 68 employees. This will be the third time he needs to continue working with employees and trying to come up with a plan that can employ as many people as possible.
He has already opened a partner café serving breakfast burritos.
In some parts of the state, business owners have disregarded rules that require operations to be closed or restricted. Others challenged the orders in court.
A San Diego judge on Monday rejected a request to temporarily restore indoor service in restaurants and gyms in the state’s second most populous county, which were forced to relocate outside the month to slow the spread of the coronavirus.
Two restaurants and two gyms have sued on behalf of their industry to declare a four-tier system of business restrictions illegal in California. I would like to restore indoor operations with a capacity of 25% for restaurants and 10% for gyms, which was established before the last jump in cases.
Supreme Court Judge Kenneth Medel declined, saying there was scientific evidence to support Newsom’s public health orders to restrict business at the time of the epidemic.
Restaurants in Los Angeles say there is no evidence that eating outdoors contributes to thorns.
The California Restaurant Association on Tuesday went to court to order a ban on stopping personal meals until Los Angeles county health officials provide medical or scientific evidence that this poses an unreasonable risk to public health.
The city of Pasadena, which has an independent public health department, broke up with Los Angeles County and decided to allow the continuation of outdoor dining in restaurants while assessing the number of viruses.
“We need to balance our growing numbers with the economic hardships of restaurant staff,” spokeswoman Lisa Derderian said in a statement.
Los Angeles County Superintendent Kathryn Barger, who said she was opposed to re-ordering a stay at home, also questioned the wisdom of stopping meals outside restaurants – the only way to serve on-site service since the previous home order. dishes.
According to Barger, only 10–15% of those infected reported having taken a positive test, but 50% reported attending a private gathering with someone who gave a positive result.
Ferrer, however, said the epidemics doubled in eating places in the first two weeks of the month – including restaurants, processing plants, bottlers, grocery stores and related businesses.
“We are experiencing a significant number of violations around physical distance protocols, including violations of restaurants, bars, breweries and wineries,” Ferrer said.
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Olga R. Rodriguez, a writer for the Associated Press in San Francisco, contributed to the report.
