Los Angeles:
Officials in the nation’s largest county will discuss a possible stay-home order just days before Thanksgiving after a spike of coronavirus cases surpassed a threshold set by Los Angeles public health officials to trigger one. An “impressive and alarming surge” of more than 6,000 new cases put Los Angeles County over a five-day average of 4,500 cases per day, Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said Monday. She declined to take action until county supervisors meet Tuesday.
If the county orders residents to stay home, it would be the first such action since mid-March when Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom followed the lead of several counties and issued a statewide order that closed schools and severely restricted movement, except for essential workers and for people buy groceries or pick up food. Coronavirus cases and hospitalisations have been rapidly rising across California in November. The state recorded its highest day of positive test results on Saturday with more than 15,000. It had more than 14,000 cases Sunday. Hospitalisations have increased 77 per cent over the past two weeks.
“At this rate, our hospitals won’t have any spare beds by Christmas time,” said Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti about the situation in his city. Medical centers are prepared to increase capacity and the city has plans to set up field hospitals if necessary, Garcetti said.
Newsom has issued a 10 pm to 5 am curfew for almost all state residents and urged residents to avoid nonessential travel during what is typically the busiest travel period of the year. Anyone entering California is advised to quarantine for two weeks. If another stay-home order is issued, it could create conflict for people planning to spend Thanksgiving together. Officials have urged people not to meet with more than two other households and to celebrate outdoors and follow physical distancing rules.
Newsom on Monday said gathering at Thanksgiving is risky and Ferrer went a step further by urging people to only gather with members of their households. Despite the advisory, millions of Californians are expected to travel on Thanksgiving, mainly by car. Flights at San Francisco International Airport were down 75 per cent from the same period last year, airport spokesman Doug Yakel said.
In Los Angeles, the county of 10 million residents has had a disproportionately large share of the state’s cases and deaths. Although it accounts for a quarter of the state’s 40 million residents, it has about a third of the cases and more than a third of the deaths. The rapid rise has taken public health officials by surprise, outpacing a troubling summer surge when average cases increased 43 per cent.
“From October 31 through November 13, average daily cases increased 108 per cent — which is a much more rapid surge in cases than what we saw in the summer,” Ferrer said. A week ago, Ferrer said she was hopeful the county wouldn’t hit an average of 4,000 cases until early December and didn’t think that it was inevitable.
But newly confirmed cases passed that threshold on Sunday, triggering an order shutting down restaurant dining for three weeks starting Wednesday at 10 pm and further crippling an industry that has reeled from the virus. Restaurant owners in Los Angeles who have had to adapt to ever-changing rules were trying to reinvent their businesses again to keep afloat with only delivery and take-out. Owners said they were upset the county took the action when it seemed that infections were more likely coming from private gatherings.
