As COVID-19 Numbers Climb, Board of Supervisors Will Consider Issuing a New Safer-at-Home Lockdown Order

West Hollywood recorded 12 new cases of COVID-19 on Monday while Los Angeles County reported a record-breaking 6,124 new cases.

Such high numbers for the county are expected to trigger a more sweeping countywide stay-at-home order to fight the surge of coronavirus cases. The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors is scheduled to meet on Tuesday morning to discuss implementing a new lockdown.

On Sunday, LA County health officials issued orders to close restaurants to in-person dining for three weeks (take-out orders and deliveries still allowed), starting Wednesday at 10 p.m.

However, these latest numbers are so high, the county has now surpassed the threshold for a new Safer at Home lockdown order.

Whether that new Safer at Home order will look like the one last spring is not clear. The Supervisors and health officials will have to discuss that at Tuesday’s meeting.

Health officials said last week the order would likely only allow essential and emergency workers and those securing essential services to leave their homes. However, county Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said Tuesday the specifics still need to be ironed out with the Supervisors.

“I know for sure we’re not going back to all of the restrictions that were in place in the original Safer at Home order (issued in March at the beginning of the pandemic),” Ferrer said. “For one thing, we’ve learned a lot more. We have much more capacity on testing now, which allows us to do a better job quickly identifying people who are positive. And to everyone’s credit, this is a county that when we had a surge before was able to, in fact, get back to slowing the spread.”

According to thresholds announced last week, in-person restaurant dining closures would occur if the county reached a five-day average of 4,000 cases or if hospitalizations surpassed 1,750. That threshold was reached on Sunday.

However, the announced thresholds also said a new Safer at Home order would be triggered if the five-day average topped 4,500 cases or if hospitalizations climbed above 2,000. That threshold was passed on Monday.

Of Monday’s 6,124 new confirmed cases, about 1,500 of the cases are a backlog from reporting on Sunday. Even subtracting those 1,500 cases, the county still had 4,624 new cases for Monday, enough to still trigger the new Safer at Home order.

Any new restrictions would be in addition to the overnight curfew which the state of California imposed upon Los Angeles County and all of Southern California last week. That curfew runs 10 p.m. to 5 a.m., but exempts essential workers. It is scheduled to last until Dec. 21, but could be extended if COVID numbers don’t fall.

County health officials report there are 1,473 people with COVID-19 currently hospitalized and 27% of these people are in the ICU. This is a 73% increase from two weeks ago when the daily number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 was 849.

As these numbers keep climbing at such a rapid pace, the health officials fear hospitals will not be able to handle the surge of sick people and are taking steps to slow the spread of the virus.

Los Angeles County now has a cumulative total of 370,636 cases and 7,446 deaths since the pandemic began.

In West Hollywood, the city has a cumulative total of 889 cases and eight deaths since the pandemic began.

Below are the daily numbers for areas near West Hollywood:

• Beverly Hills – 23 new cases for a total of 916 cases.
• Culver City – 16 new cases for a total of 578 cases.
• Hollywood – 26 new cases for a total of 1,763 cases.
• Melrose neighborhood – 56 new cases for a total of 2,664 cases.
• Park La Brea – 4 new cases for a total of 183 cases.

For information about COVID-19 and the many resources available to West Hollywood residents, CLICK HERE.