L.A. Could Start to Reopen, With Restrictions, Toward End of May, Officials Say

Los Angeles County could start allowing certain businesses to reopen toward the end of May.

The Los Angeles Times reported that County Public Health Director Dr. Barbara Ferrer said on April 15 that the county’s shelter-in-place order, currently slated to expire on May 15, likely would be lifted “later on in the month of May.” She said the first areas to reopen could include retail stores, art exhibitions and parks, but there would be measures in place to keep social distancing intact.

For instance, Ferrer suggested that there would be a cap on the number of people allowed in a retail store to ensure that people remain at least six feet apart as well as making hiking trails and bike paths one-way only.

“What we’re going to be working on as part of our recovery is figuring out how we can, in fact, get more people back to work,” she said.

Also on April 15, the Times reported that Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti is weighing a ban on concerts and sporting events in the city until 2021. Garcetti said in a press conference later in the day that sporting events potentially could be held in empty stadiums, but thinks “that we’re a long way off from huge gatherings. We can’t reopen things simply because our hearts say that we want to. I will always listen to the doctors.”

California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, said in an April 14 speech that he would lift the state’s indefinite shelter-in-place order if certain criteria are met, including widespread testing, the ability for businesses to handle social distancing, and that the health care sector has enough resources to handle a potential new surge in COVID-19 cases.

“There’s no light switch here,” Newsom said. “I would argue it’s more like a dimmer.”

County officials announced on April 16 that there were 399 new COVID-19 cases and 55 deaths, topping the previous days’ highs of 42 and 40. The total is now 10,895 confirmed cases and 457 deaths in the county.