Los Angeles Prepares for Curfew Amid Virus Spike
Published Date: 11/19/2020
Source: Bloomberg Quicktake: Now
Los Angeles County imposed new restrictions on businesses Tuesday and is readying plans for a mandatory curfew for all but essential workers if coronavirus cases keep spiking. The county of 10 million residents — the nation's most populous — has seen daily confirmed cases more than double in the last two weeks to nearly 2,900. Hospitalizations have topped 1,100, a rise of 30% in that period. The county, which for most of the pandemic has had a disproportionately large share of California's cases, issued new restrictions ordering nonessential retail businesses to limit indoor capacity to 25% and restaurants to 50% capacity outdoors. Restaurants already are not allowed to serve customers indoors. All those businesses must close at 10 p.m. The changes take effect Friday. Additionally, services at salons and other personal care businesses may only be provided by appointment and customers and staff must wear face coverings. Services such as facials that require customers to remove their face coverings are not permitted. All gatherings must be outdoors and limited to 15 people from no more than three households. The county also warned of increasingly restrictive policies if cases keep rising. If the five-day average of cases tops 4,000 or hospitalizations are above 1,750 per day, outdoor restaurant dining will be banned. If cases reach 4,500 per day or hospitalizations top 2,000, the county will impose a three-week lockdown that will restrict people to their homes for all but essential services. A nighttime curfew for all but essential workers would run from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. The county's announcement came a day after California Gov. Gavin Newsom deployed an "emergency brake" on 28 counties and moved them into the most restrictive of four tiers for reopening. Those counties joined Los Angeles and 13 others already at that level, and together they account for 94% of the state's nearly 40 million residents. Subscribe to our YouTube channel: https://bit.ly/2TwO8Gm Bloomberg Quicktake brings you live global news and original shows spanning business, technology, politics and culture. Make sense of the stories changing your business and your world. To watch complete coverage on Bloomberg Quicktake 24/7, visit http://www.bloomberg.com/qt/live, or watch on Apple TV, Roku, Samsung Smart TV, Fire TV and Android TV on the Bloomberg app. Connect with us on… YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/Bloomberg Breaking News on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/BloombergQuickTakeNews Twitter: https://twitter.com/quicktake Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/quicktake Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/quicktake