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LA Mayor Urges 'Extreme Caution' (Men Especially) To Fight COVID-19 Spread
L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti delivers the 2020 State of the City speech. (Screenshot of livestream)
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Mayor Eric Garcetti today said that Los Angeles remains in a "very fragile" position, but city officials are not planning on any additional closures of businesses or activiites — for now.
The mayor cited guidance from UCLA infectious disease expert, Dr. Robert Kim-Farley, who he says suggested that we may see cases begin to go down in the coming weeks, "but only if we continue to do our part" to wear masks and social distance.
Garcetti said L.A. County's transmission rate is down to 0.92, which is slightly less than last week when it was 0.94. "This represents that what you're doing is having an impact," he said.
He did acknolwedge the highest death count since the start of the pandemic happened within the last 24 hours — 91 deaths in the county — but attributed that to a reporting backlog. Of those deaths, 30 were in the city of L.A.
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The mayor also pointed out an interesting data point — men in L.A. County are much more likely to test positive for COVID-19 (2/3 of confirmed cases are men and 1/3 are women).
His takeaway?
"So men, mask up. Men, take responsibility and socially distance, and men, make sure you are washing your hands and your surfaces."
MORE ANNOUNCEMENTS:
- A new "Travel Safely Ambassador" program is coming to LAX. Starting Monday, these ambassadors will provide fact sheets to travelers and provide masks, which are required. The program will start with Terminal 1, but the ultimate goal is to have them at every terminal.
- Another hotel in the San Fernando Valley has been added to the Project Roomkey program.
- The mayor implored Congress to extend the stimulus benefits and avoid partisan politics. He specifically urged the Senate to pass the Heroes Act, which has already passed in the House.
Note: Garcetti's Facebook feed had some major glitches today and conked out entirely before the Q&A, playing piano hold music for about 15 minutes until the page stopped working entirely.
As one commenter aptly put it, "Things were going great until the live broadcast itself suddenly contracted COVID-19 and died."
WE ARE HERE TO HELP: HOW TO (NEW) LA
- What's Open And What Are The Rules?
- Is It Safe Out There?
- What To Do If You Have It, Might Have It, Or Were Possibly Exposed To The Coronavirus
- An FBI Hostage Negotiator Tells Us How To Talk To People About Masks
- Need Some Mental Health Support? Start Here
- The 5 Most Important Things To Know About The Outside World
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