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Los Angeles County will ban most public and private gatherings next week under a stricter stay-at-home order, health officials said on Friday, November 27, as the rate of coronavirus cases continued to climb.
The new ordinance will come into effect on Monday, November 30.
Officials on Friday reported 24 more coronavirus-related deaths and 4,544 new cases in Los Angeles County. The five-day average of new cases is now 4,751.
There were also 1,893 LA County residents in hospitals with the coronavirus, 24% of whom were in intensive care. On October 27, a month ago, 747 people in hospitals were infected with the virus.
To date, the county public health department has identified 387,793 cases of coronavirus in LA County and 7,604 coronavirus-related deaths.
“With the recent outbreak of COVID-19 in our community,” said Barbara Ferrer, county public health director, in a statement, “we need to take additional safety measures to reduce the risk of illness and death due to this terrible virus and protect our health system. “
The new health order will ban all public and private gatherings except demonstrations and religious services, and will close playing fields and card rooms. It will also limit the occupancy of various businesses, including capping essential retail businesses to 35% of their capacity. The new ordinance was triggered because the county’s case rate exceeded 4,500.
Libraries, personal care services and non-essential businesses, including indoor malls, will all be capped at 20% occupancy. Outdoor fitness centers, museums, galleries, zoos, aquariums, outdoor botanical gardens, mini golf, batting cages and outdoor kart races, meanwhile, will be all capped at 50% occupancy.
The order will remain in effect at least until December 20.
The new order has no impact on Long Beach or Pasadena, both of which have their own health departments and maintain their own health orders to contain the spread of the coronavirus.
Pasadena has generally aligned with LA County orders throughout the pandemic. But more recently, the city has diverged in allowing alfresco dining to continue.
Pasadena spokeswoman Lisa Derderian said on Friday the city was reviewing the ordinance to determine what action to take.
Long Beach, meanwhile, has yet to significantly deviate from LA County health orders.
Long Beach spokesman Kevin Lee said Friday the city “will continue to analyze our local data and make decisions based on it.”
“Of course, we will also continue to work with our county partners to better understand the regional spread,” he added in a statement, “and its effects on Long Beach.”
Friday’s news came as businesses adjusted to the latest tightening of restrictions, the ban on in-person eating that went into effect on Wednesday, November 25.
Some restaurants, however, continued to offer outdoor dining on Friday in defiance of order.
Late Friday morning, Eat at Joe’s in Redondo Beach served tables full of customers on its outdoor patio and on the sidewalk off the Pacific Coast Highway.
Alex Jordan, the restaurant’s longtime owner, said he has had “pretty stable” business since it opened at 6 a.m.
Jordan said he was aware of the possible consequences of breaking the order, including fines and the potential loss of the restaurant’s license to operate.
“You just have to decide if the reason for your position is more important than the repercussions you’re going to face,” Jordan said. “And for me, it definitely was.
“My employees have been with me for a long time and put them on the streets with no government help, no government subsidy, no nothing for four weeks before Christmas,” Jordan added, “this is just unacceptable to me.”
Ferrer, for her part, said she understood how onerous the restrictions were – but stressed the need to continue to take the pandemic seriously.
“We know we ask a lot of so many people who have been sacrificing themselves for months,” she said, “and we hope LA County residents continue to follow public health safety measures that, we know, can slow the spread. Acting with collective urgency now is essential if we are to stop this surge.
County officials did not comment on Friday specifically on the types of enforcement mechanisms they plan to use as health ordinance restrictions tighten.
“The restriction on in-person meals protects customers and employees as it eliminates contact between people who are not wearing face coverings and within six feet of each other,” said Brett Morrow, spokesperson for the public health department, in a statement. . “Public health inspectors are conducting inspections and will notify restaurants, breweries or wineries that fail to comply with their obligation to comply with new safety requirements or face legal action.”
Morrow said residents and employees are encouraged to report violations to the public health and environmental health complaint line, 888-700-9995.
Editor Michael Hixon contributed to this report.
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