With the five-day average of new COVID-19 cases in LA County at 4,751 per day (and yesterday’s single-day count at 4,544), the LA County Department of Health yesterday issued a new Safer at Home order, which will begin on Monday, November 30, and remain in effect through December 20.
Under the new order, “residents are advised to stay home as much as possible and always wear a face covering over their nose and mouth when they are outside their household and around others.” More specifically:
“All public and private gatherings with individuals not in your household are prohibited, except for faith based services and protests, which are constitutionally protected rights.”
In addition, while the order allows some essential and non-essential business and services to remain open, gatherings at those facilities are prohibited, and occupancy levels have been reduced from previously-announced capacities, as shown below.
The County statement also reiterated that the previously announced restaurant closures remain in effect:
“Because of the high rates of transmission in the community, restaurants, bars, breweries and wineries remain closed for in-person dining and drinking, as customers are not wearing face coverings during their visit which results in an increased chance of transmission of the virus. Restaurants, wineries and breweries remain open for pick-up, delivery, and take-out. Breweries and wineries remain open for retail sales at 20% occupancy.”
After the announcement, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti expressed his concurrence, noting in a social media post that”
As always, we at the Buzz would like to add that the current surge affects ALL Angelenos, even those in our local neighborhoods, as shown by our own tracking of LA County data in our Buzz readership area (click to see a larger version of the image):
Thankfully, however, our death rates remain low, with very few increases in the last couple of weeks (click to see a larger version of the image):
It’s also worth noting, though, that surges in death counts tend to lag behind daily case count spikes by at least a couple of weeks, so it wouldn’t be surprising to see these numbers inching upward soon as well. Just one more reason to be careful to stay as safe as possible during this current increase.
