LA Headed to Strictest Lockdown Since March, Governor Says

With California cresting into the worst moments of the coronavirus pandemic so far, Gov. Gavin Newsom has announced a new regional stay-at-home strategy unlike anything seen since March. The program, which Newsom detailed in a live press conference today, December 3, means that Southern California residents (and indeed much of the state) could be under the strictest lockdown orders once again in as little as a few days.

The state is now grouped into several specific regions — with Los Angeles and nearby counties mostly in the Southern California region. If any region falls below 15 percent of intensive care unit bed capacity, those counties within that region would automatically be triggered into a new stay at home mandate. Last week, Southern California was at 74 percent occupancy for ICU beds (meaning 26 percent capacity remains), and Newsom says that the region could push past the latest threshold “in a matter of a day or two,” though the number of ICU beds remains a malleable as patients move in and out, and as hospitals increase capacity.

The new stay at home order would mean several things:

• No non-essential travel of any kind
• Closure of all on-site restaurant dining, though takeout/delivery remains open
• Personal services/hair salons/barbershops, etc. closed
• Essential retail open, but at 20 percent of possible capacity
• Parks and beaches to remain open for activities, but no gatherings
• Schools following protocols can remain open, if they have a state waiver

Newsom called the new regional lockdown strategy akin to “pulling the emergency brake” so as not to overwhelm healthcare workers. “The bottom line is, if we don’t act now our hospital system will become overwhelmed,” Newsom said.

While unsurprising given the current trajectory of COVID-19 cases in Los Angeles County (the current epicenter of the statewide crisis) and beyond, the new round of potential lockdowns is still dispiriting for many who may soon need to spend even more time sheltering at home, waiting for a vaccine or any other hopeful development, while foregoing public gatherings of any kind, save for protected religious outdoor religious events and protests.

The months-long pandemic has ebbed and flowed in its severity, but case rates and hospitalizations continue to grow; by most metrics, the state will be out of intensive care beds and staff in three weeks’ time. Currently the Southern California region is scheduled to fall below the 15 percent threshold trigger in a matter of days.

Restaurants and workers, meanwhile, have borne the brunt of the moment, and Newsom spoke to them directly in his address, saying: “I deeply empathize and I have deep appreciation for the stress and struggles our restaurants have had.” An untold number of restaurants have closed permanently in Southern California alone, decimating an industry already known for perilously thin margins and an unsettling track record of worker abuse, wage theft, and low pay. A large percentage of LA’s restaurant workforce is undocumented, meaning limited options for public assistance of any kind, and now workers have new fears of a winter spent without work, federal financial intervention, or much hope.

Last week, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors and the Department of Public Health announced a three-week pause on all outdoor on-site restaurant dining, leading to furloughs of front of house staff and lawsuits from restaurant groups. Newsom’s newest statewide order means those restaurants will likely soon be confined to takeout and delivery until at least such time as hospitals and ICU bed stabilize, but with a post-Thanksgiving COVID-19 case surge likely, that may not come for weeks, or months.

It’s a bleak day for greater Los Angeles, and indeed for all of California. Nearly 1.3 million confirmed cases have already hit the state, home to 40 million inhabitants, with almost 20,000 recorded deaths since the start of the pandemic earlier this year. And while today’s new shutdown order may be necessary to help slow the spread of the most malicious infectious disease in recent history, it almost certainly means more loss of income, loss of workplaces, and without sweeping federal financial intervention, the loss of businesses, homes, and any future economic certainty.

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