L.A. County Shelter-In-Place Order Likely Will Be Extended for Three Months, Order Could Be Modified

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Aaron Bandler

May 12, 2020

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – JANUARY 13: Eric Garcetti Mayor of Los Angeles speaks to the guest during Non Profit Launch Of “LA Collab” With Mayor Garcetti at The Boyle Heights Arts Conservatory on January 13, 2020 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Leon Bennett/Getty Images)

Los Angeles County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said in a May 12 County Board of Supervisors meeting that the county’s shelter-in-place order likely will be extended through July, but she left the door open for the order to be modified.

The Los Angeles Times reported that Ferrer said the county hopes to “to slowly lift restrictions over the next three months.” However, she said that until the county has the capacity to have county residents tested daily or the status of the virus changes, there will have to be restrictions.

After a backlash ensued on social media, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti told CNN’s Jake Tapper that just because the shelter-in-place order is going to be extended for three months doesn’t mean that restrictions won’t be eased.

“I think quite simply, [Ferrer’s] saying is that we’re not gonna fully reopen Los Angeles or probably anywhere in America without any protections or any health orders in the next three months. I think we know it’s going to be even longer than three months,” Garcetti said. “And as I’ve said a million times, we’re not moving past COVID-19; we’re learning to live with it. We’re not going to go back to pre-COVID-19 life anytime soon or jump forward to post-COVID-19 time until there is a medicine or vaccine that allows that.”

He added that the county can get its economy going while having residents maintain social distancing measures and wear masks.

Tapper then told Garcetti that Ferrer seemed to be implying that county residents would have to remain indoors until July. Garcetti replied that Ferrer has been doing a great job handling the pandemic, that polls across the country show that people want reopenings to happen in a gradual, slow manner.

“There are some populations who will need to stay at home,” Garcetti said. “People need to know whenever possible, it is safer to stay at home.”

He added that the shelter-in-place order won’t be drastically altered over the next week but “that doesn’t mean three weeks from now, six weeks from now, two months from now, we won’t continuously edit that order and make sure that we open up safely as much as we can.”

Video: LA Mayor Eric Garcetti calls into CNN with Jake Tapper to do some damage control, telling Jake that the three month extension will not mean everything stays closed.

"Well, I want to reassure people because I think there was a lot panic suddenly" when the story came out pic.twitter.com/L7ow4ZA7Ga

— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) May 12, 2020

The county beaches are going to be partially reopened on May 13; hiking trails also were reopened on May 8, and retail stores in the county are now allowed to offer curbside pickup.

The county announced on May 12 that there were 961 new COVID-19 cases and 45 new deaths from the coronavirus in the county, bringing the county’s respective totals to 33,180 and 1,613.

#COVID19 update (5/12/20):@lapublichealth reports 961 new cases and 45 deaths.
Total confirmed cases in LA County= 33,180
Total deaths= 1,613
(Thread 1/3) pic.twitter.com/oigCxTk0qw

— Los Angeles County (@CountyofLA) May 12, 2020