By NewsDesk  @bactiman63

The LA County Health Department reported 4,272 new cases of COVID-19 on Friday and over the last three days, there have been a total of 13,247 new cases reported; a 3-day average of 4,415 daily new cases.

COVID-19
Image/CDC

Officials says the transmission is alarmingly high in the county as the daily test positivity rate has also increased significantly and now is 7.3%. The test positivity rate was 3.9% on November 1.

There are 1,298 people with COVID-19 currently hospitalized and 27% of these people are in the ICU. This is a 78% increase from a month ago when daily hospitalizations were 730. The last time the County saw numbers this high at hospitals was in August.

A number of restrictions went into effect Friday to include:

  • For non-essential businesses permitted to operate indoors—including retail stores, offices, personal care services—occupancy will be limited to 25% of the maximum occupancy allowed.
  • The number of patrons at outdoor restaurants, breweries and wineries will be limited to 50% of maximum outdoor capacity.
  • The number customers at cardrooms, outdoor mini-golf, go-karts and batting cages will be limited to 50% of maximum outdoor capacity.
  • Services at personal care establishments may only be provided by appointment to customers wearing face coverings by staff wearing face coverings.
  • Starting tonight, restaurants, breweries, wineries, bars, and all other non-essential retail establishments must close for in customer service between 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. – all these sites can be open for take-out, delivery, and pick up.
  • Gatherings may only happen outdoors and include 15 people who are members of no more than 3 households.

On Thursday, the State issued a Health Officer Order with additional restrictions effective tomorrow, November 21 until December 21 that also apply to all county residents. This includes closing not just restaurants, breweries, wineries, and non-essential retail at 10:00 pm, but closing all non-essential businesses between 10:00 p.m. through 5:00 a.m. for in-person customer service. This includes card rooms, entertainment venues and activities, and sporting events. Delivery, take-out, and pick-up is still allowed.

Everyone in California must adhere to the State’s new Health Officer Order. Counties may be more restrictive than State mandates, but not less restrictive.

The Los Angeles County Health Officer Order will be modified to align the closing Orders with the State’s Health Officer Order; this includes adopting the same hours of 10:00 p.m. through 5:00 a.m. for restricted operations.

As a reminder, the County has established thresholds for additional actions if cases and/or hospitalizations continue to increase.

If the five-day average of cases is 4,000 or more or hospitalizations are more than 1,750 per day, dining at restaurants, breweries, wineries and bars will be prohibited and these businesses will only be able to offer pick-up and delivery.

If the five-day average of cases is 4,500 or more or hospitalizations are more than 2,000 per day, a Safer at Home Order will be mandated for three weeks. The Order would offer additional restrictions while allowing essential and emergency workers and those securing essential services to leave their homes.

To date, Public Health identified 357,451 positive cases of COVID-19 across all areas of L.A. County and a total of 7,396 deaths.