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Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said in his Tuesday evening media briefing that the number of patients who are currently hospitalized in L.A. County with complications from COVID-19 are at an all time low since the pandemic began, signaling that the city is "headed in the right direction" in the fight against the virus.
Hospitalization rates are the lowest they've been since April 4, the earliest data the county has made available.
"Today 1,168 Angelenos -- still a very large number -- are in the hospital," Garcetti said, "but it is 1,000 fewer patients compared to five weeks ago."
The mayor added that the infection rate is still below one (.92), which means the spread of the virus is relatively contained. He said that number means we should be seeing caseloads decrease in the coming weeks.
The goal right now, he explained, is to have fewer than 100 cases per 100,000 people over a 14-day period, which would take L.A. County off the state's watch list, so we can move into the next stages of reopening.
"To put that in perspective, we still need to cut that to about half the number of cases we have today, and sustain that for two weeks to achieve the goal that I know we all share," he said.
The mayor empahsized that even with this good news, we can't let our guard down:
"The data shows us that what we're doing is working, what you're doing is having an effect...[but] we're not out of the woods. COVID-19 is still here and it's still extremely dangerous, so we need to keep following those protocols."
"They walked off the court, and they issued a clear demand — the same call heard from Kenosha to Minneapolis, Louisville to right here in Los Angeles — that we confront our history, that we commit to ending the legacy of racial injustice in America. Not in a month. Not in a year, not next season, but right now."
The mayor announced tonight that he is issuing an executive order to make city services completely contactless and digital "wherever possible."
Residents will be able to create a sign-in that allows them to do things like pay water bills and arrange contactless pick up at the public library.
A task force has been gathered to develop this system, so stay tuned.
PARTY HOUSE UPDATE
Garcetti said the illegal party situation is improving, thanks to his policy to shut off water and power to party throwers who have repeatedly violated the city's ordinance prohibiting large gatherings.
"There have been many fewer large parties. We count these things, and most that we hear about are now, with one visit from the police, breaking up," he said. "Airbnb shut down 30 homes that were being used for parties in Los Angeles; we had 13 complaints last week and none of them are as egregious as the ones we saw a couple weeks ago."
He said overall he feels that the message has been received.
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