Snarled in the midst of a relentless surge that has propelled new coronavirus cases to record levels, Los Angeles County health officials issued an urgent plea to follow a temporary three-week safer-at-home order starting Monday.
No additional orders were announced by Barbara Ferrer, county health director, during a rare weekend media-briefing livecast on Saturday, Nov. 28 — but the possibility of further measures should case numbers continue to increase was not ruled out.
Related: Here’s what you need to know about LA County coronavirus restrictions starting Monday
“I understand everyone’s frustration, but we’re headed into the holiday season and more than anything, we’re longing to spend time with friends and family,” Ferrer said. “If we really care about each other … we need to not gather with anyone not in our immediate household, at least for the immediate future.
“We’re really trying to ensure for the next three weeks we do everything we can to get the surge to decrease,” she added.
Officials reported 3,143 new cases and 19 new deaths on Saturday, lifting those totals to 390,891 cases and 7,623 deaths, respectively, since the pandemic arrived. Saturday’s death number reflected a holiday weekend reporting lag, Ferrer said.
The county’s five-day average of new cases — a statistic that has been utilized to trigger a recent wave of more severe restrictions on public activity — is now 4,155.
“We do wish the families of loved ones who have passed peace and healing during this difficult time,” Ferrer said.
As of Friday, 1,951 people were hospitalized, with 25 percent of those in ICU, Ferrer said. Those hospitalization numbers hadn’t been reached since August.
Ferrer noted the case numbers may remain lower over the weekend as no testing was offered on Thanksgiving and limited testing was offered Friday. She also cautioned that case numbers could continue to rise over the next two to three weeks depending on what activities were occurring during the long holiday stretch.
Friday’s 4,544 new cases raised the county’s five-day average to 4,751 — then the highest point since the pandemic began — and triggered the new health order. The new rules will effectively ban most public and private gatherings starting Monday, Nov. 30, and remain in effect through at least Dec. 20.
On Friday, there were 1,893 L.A. County residents in hospitals with the coronavirus, 24% of whom were in intensive care. In late October, there were about 750 people in hospitals with the virus.
On Wednesday, county Health Officer Dr. Muntu Davis said that the situation was getting worse each day.
“We continue to be at a very difficult time in this pandemic, as is so much of the United States,” Davis said.
According to current county estimates, every COVID-19 patient in the county is passing the virus to an average of 1.27 people — the highest transmission rate the county has seen since March, before any safety protocols such as face coverings and social distancing were in place.
Based on that transmission rate, health officials estimate one of every 145 people in the county are now infected with the virus and transmitting it to others.
“This doesn’t include people that are currently hospitalized or isolated at home,” county Health Services Director Dr. Christina Ghaly said. “This is the estimate of people that are out and about and infecting others. They may not know they’re infected. They may know they’re infected and not be isolating. But they’re out there and they’re exposing other people to the virus.”
Ghaly said the number of people hospitalized due to the virus has jumped by 70% in the past two weeks, with the county now averaging about 300 new admissions daily.
The county was at 75% capacity of its hospital beds, Saturday, Ferrer said.
Monday’s tougher rules
The county’s new health order will ban all public and private gatherings except for protests and religious services, and shut down playgrounds and card rooms. It will also limit occupancy at various businesses, including capping essential retail at 35% capacity. The new order was triggered because the county’s case rate topped 4,500.
Libraries, personal care services and non-essential retail, 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 go-kart racing, meanwhile, will all be capped at 50% occupancy.
The new order does not impact Long Beach or Pasadena, which both have their own health departments and maintain their own health orders to contain the further spread of the coronavirus.
Pasadena has generally aligned with LA County’s orders throughout the pandemic. Pasadena spokesperson Lisa Derderian said Friday the city was reviewing the order to determine which measures to adopt.
Long Beach, meanwhile, has yet to significantly depart from LA County’s health orders. Long Beach spokesperson Kevin Lee said Friday that the city will “continue to analyze our local data and make decisions based on that.”
“Of course we will also continue to work with our County partners to better understand the spread regionally,” he added in a statement, “and its effect on Long Beach.”
Dining ban woes
Meanwhile, businesses continued to adjust to the ban on in-person dining that went into effect Wednesday, Nov. 25.
The ban set off outrage among many restaurant owners and spurred some communities — including the Los Angeles City Council — and business organizations to pass resolutions opposing it, fearing the impact on the economy and jobs amid the virus crisis. Lawsuits were also filed, including one by the California Restaurant Association.
The city of Lancaster, looking to team with neighboring cities, called a special meeting for Thursday, Dec. 3, to consider establishing its own public health department, to break away from such county orders.
Long Beach aligned with the ban, limiting eateries to drive-thru, takeout and delivery service. Pasadena, however, allowed in-person dining to continue outdoors with certain restrictions.
“The data that we have been informed of and what our health officer and director is telling us is infections are not occurring at outdoor dining facilities,” said Pasadena Mayor-elect Victor Gordo on Friday. “That’s why the decision in Pasadena and the recommendation of the health officer is to keep our outdoor dining open and available.”
By Saturday, Pasadena had shut down five restaurants for failure to comply with the rules.
Sheila Kuehl, Mark Ridley-Thomas and Hilda Solis stood behind the ban during a 3-2 Board of Supervisors vote on the issue on Tuesday.
Kuehl said dining out at restaurants — even on an outdoor patio — is the only allowable activity in which patrons interact without masks for extended periods of time.
“It’s a bit of magical thinking on everyone’s part to think that at any restaurant anywhere that the server keeps a 6-foot distance from the table,” Kuehl said. “I sadly, but strongly, support moving our restaurants back to takeout and delivery.”
City News Service contributed to this report.
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