COVID-19 Updates: LAUSD Campuses Closed Through Spring & Summer; “Safer at Home” Extension

In the last few days, there have been a couple of noteworthy announcements about the extension of local COVID-19 responses:

On Friday, April 10, LA County officially extended its “Safer at Home” order until May 15.  The order, which “requires all businesses to cease in-person operations and remain closed to the public, unless the business is defined as an Essential Business,” and which also urges to people to stay at home as much as possible, was originally set to expire on April 15.  The extension brings local restrictions in line with updated guidelines for the full state of California issued by Governor Gavin Newsom.

And yesterday (Monday, April 13), LAUSD Superintendant Austin Beutner announced that all LAUSD campuses will remain closed for the rest of the school year, and through the summer.  Classes will continue via remote learning for the remainder of the school year, and summer school opportunities will be via distance learning as well…and open to all students.  The District also announced that no failing grades will be given this year.

Beutner’s full address is here:

Also, it’s worth noting that, according to a report published in the Los Angeles Daily News yesterday, the current restrictions may indeed be starting to “flatten the curve.”  According to the Daily News story, “Los Angeles County Public Health officials reported just 239 new cases of the novel coronavirus on Monday, the lowest number of new confirmed cases since March 26, nearly three weeks ago.”

Currently, 9,420 cases of COVID-19 have been reported so far in LA County.  Local case counts for neighborhoods in the Buzz readership area (which we update daily) can be found at https://larchmontbuzz.com/covid-19-neighborhood-case-tracker-updated-daily/  Here is today’s graph (with notes about how these neighborhood boundaries are drawn):