Source: Frank Lee / Getty
Los Angeles County and city officials announced new orders that will severely restrict public movements on Thursday. Of course, this is all in an effort to curb the spread of the coronavirus.
For LA Country, this new order requires all indoor malls, shopping centers, playgrounds and nonessential retail businesses to close, along with prohibiting gatherings of more than 10 people in enclosed spaces. The order for the city of Los Angeles is much more restrictive, requiring all nonessential businesses to close, with companies able to operate only through work-at-home arrangements. They also banned all public gatherings of any size outside homes.
“All businesses, including museums, malls, retail stores, for-profit companies and nonprofit organizations, must stop operations that require workers to be present in person,” Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said. “No public and private gatherings of any size that would occur outside of a single home will be allowed, with clear exceptions.”
Garcetti explained that residents should only leave home for essential needs, which including getting food, caring for a relative, friend or child, getting necessary healthcare, or going for a walk around your neighborhood.
“Nobody is locked down, and we encourage you not to be locked,” Garcetti further explained. “This is not ‘shelter in place’ like a school shooting, this is stay at home because you’re safer at home. And the only people who should be leaving home and going out are those whose jobs are critical to the safety, the health and security of the city, as well as the economy of recovery for us and the nation during this crisis.”
Under the city’s order, residents are permitted to:
- Go to the grocery store
- Go to the pharmacy to pick up medications and other healthcare necessities
- Go to medical appointments (check with your doctor or provider first)
- Take a walk, ride your bike and be in nature for exercise — just keep at least six feet between you and others in the community
- Walk your pets and take them to the veterinarian if necessary
- Help someone to get necessary supplies
Residents are not allowed to:
- Go to work unless providing essential services as defined by the order
- Visit friends and family if there is no urgent need
- Maintain less than six feet of distance from others when you go out
- Travel to or from a job outside the city, unless to perform essential activities
- Travel to or from a vacation home outside the city
- Visit loved ones in a hospital, nursing home, skilled nursing facility or other residential care facility
As for what’s considered an essential service, the following are still permitted to stay open/work over the next moth:
- City/county government services
- Healthcare providers
- Food and grocery service
- Hardware stores and nurseries
- Plumbers, electricians, exterminators, custodial/janitorial workers, handyman services, funeral home workers and morticians, moving services, HVAC installers, carpenters, landscapers, gardeners, property managers, private security personnel and others who provide services to maintain the safety, sanitation and essential operation of properties and other essential activities
- Banks
- Organizations and businesses that provide food, shelter, social services and other necessities of life for economically disadvantaged or otherwise needy individuals (including gang prevention and intervention and domestic violence agencies)
- Laundromats/laundry service
- Newspapers, magazines, television, radio, podcasts and other media services
- Educational institutions, including public and private K-12 schools, colleges, and universities — for purposes of facilitating distance learning or performing essential functions provided that social distancing of six feet per person is maintained to the greatest extent possible
“This latest order enforces a simple fact: With this disease spreading, you are safer at home,” L.A. County Supervisor Janice Hahn said in a statement. “Everyone can still get the food and supplies they need — but by staying at home right now, you are not only keeping yourself as safe as possible, you are helping make it safer for the grocery store workers, healthcare workers, first responders and transit workers we are depending on to be in public.”
Shortly after the smaller announcements, Gov. Gavin Newsom ordered all Californians to stay at home, marking the first mandatory restrictions placed on the lives of all 40 million residents. These rules remain in effect until April 19.
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