Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said he’s “nervous” about the county’s announcement Wednesday that it would move forward in the state’s reopening plan, allowing gyms, museums and zoos to reopen.
Garcetti spoke in an evening briefing on the coronavirus pandemic and ongoing protests in the city.
“We’ve learned how to live better with COVID-19,” Garcetti said. “But as we’ve been focused on racial justice, we can’t lose sight of our personal responsibility to not spread COVID-19 further as the state allows, and then the county mandates, these openings.”
The mayor said, in some instances, he may choose to reopen things in the city of L.A. slower than the county allows. But he indicated the city would, for now, follow suit.
“If you hold back one city, people can just go next door and work out and go next door to restaurants,” he said. “So the public health impact is that a region really does need to move together.”
Garcetti encouraged anyone who’s older or has underlying health conditions to continue staying home as much as possible, even as the economy reopens.
The new county order will also allow day camps and campgrounds to resume operations as the region proceeds into Stage 3 of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s plan.
It comes as local health officials report falling short on the number of tests being administered, and as the county surpassed 67,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 with 2,768 deaths.