As coronavirus cases continue to grow across the state, Los Angeles has introduced a new color-coded system to assess and report the risk of infection.
The online indicator, which Mayor Eric Garcetti unveiled Wednesday, falls into four categories: red, orange, yellow, and green, each of which represents different levels of threat.
“Threat information and data helps us all to report our behavior, guide us to better days,” Garcetti said.
As of Thursday morning, the Los Angeles flag was orange, meaning the risk of infection remains very high, according to Garcetti.
“When the indicator is orange, you want to stay home as often as possible … and only go out for essential activities like going to work or going to the market,” he said. “And you must assume that everyone around you is infectious.”
Red, the highest threat level, would mean “residents must stay home and take precautions and will likely be in a safer mandatory order at home,” Garcetti said.
The orange zone means that people without vulnerabilities must use their discretion.
Yellow means “we are successfully flattening the curve” and green “will indicate that COVID-19 is largely contained and presents a very low risk to Angelenos,” he added.
“We all want to live in that green and yellow area until there is a cure or treatment for COVID-19,” he said.
The new tool launched when Los Angeles, like many areas in the state and nation, continues to experience distressing spikes in coronavirus infections and hospitalizations.
On Thursday, there were 1,893 patients with confirmed infections in Los Angeles County hospitals, compared with 1,429 two weeks earlier.
“Whether we stop the COVID-19 threat, whether we save lives and preserve livelihoods is up to us,” Garcetti said. “COVID-19 has taken control, and it is time for us to regain control.”
Statewide, the number of people hospitalized with coronavirus has soared 56% in the past two weeks, from 3,337 to 5,196. Coronavirus cases have also increased, establishing four daily records during the same time period.
As of Thursday afternoon, the total number of confirmed infections across the state had exceeded 241,000. Almost 6,200 Californians have died from COVID-19.
The recent increases are so severe that some counties, including San Bernardino and Riverside, have said they are prepared to open overflow facilities as their hospitals approach increasing capacity.
The state also announced the reactivation of four alternative care locations on Wednesday: the Imperial Field Medical Site, the Seton Medical Center, the Fairview Development Center and the Porterville Development Center. Combined, these facilities will make hundreds of additional beds available to relieve stress on the health system.
“As hospitalizations continue to increase, these alternative care sites will expand capacity and support additional acute care specifically dedicated to COVID-19 patients,” according to the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services.
Amid the worsening outbreak, Governor Gavin Newsom on Wednesday ordered 19 particularly affected counties to roll back some reopens and stop visits to restaurants, bars, wineries and tasting rooms, entertainment centers, movie theaters, zoos, museums and movie theaters. indoor games. The next three weeks.
Counties affected by the order include Los Angeles, Riverside, Ventura, Orange, San Bernardino, and Sacramento.
The Newsom administration’s decision to impose stricter rules in those counties comes just weeks after the state allowed the restrictions to be eased in most of the state.
Businesses in affected counties may still remain open for outdoor service and takeout. Bars and other beverage establishments can also seat guests outdoors as long as they sell a meal with drinks in the same transaction and meet the same security requirements as restaurants.
On Thursday, Garcetti said the city does not advise eating at an open-air restaurant, but also acknowledged that they will take it to go.
“That is not the place where you will probably get infections,” Garcetti said, adding that infections occur when people are indoors and close to each other.
“We are in the second or third inning of this nine-inning game,” Newsom said Thursday. “We are by no means out of the forest, but we can influence, we can mitigate the spread, we can again bend this curve.”
One of the main goals of that effort is to wear masks in public or high-risk settings, which Newsom ordered statewide on June 18.
Newsom announced Thursday the launch of a public awareness campaign aimed at bringing home the importance of wearing face shields, which according to public health officials can help prevent people infected with the coronavirus from passing it on to others.
The campaign is being funded in part by donations from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, the foundation of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, pediatrician Priscilla Chan. Los Angeles developer Rick Caruso and former Democratic presidential candidate Tom Steyer also donated to the campaign.
However, the issue of law enforcement remains an open question, as some local governments or law enforcement agencies say they will not punish residents for failing to comply with the mask’s mandate.
Newsom acknowledged that there are limitations to how far the state can go in terms of compliance: “There are laws on the books that, if we try to apply at scale, we could never go beyond and precede COVID-19,” and said it is so public education and encouragement are very important.
“If 40 million people want to turn their backs on civil society and abuse rules, laws and regulations consistently at scale, then society begins to erode,” he said. Consequently, the health of a community begins to decline. We have a health crisis in this nation. We are not out of this crisis; We are still in the first wave of this crisis. It requires a certain level of personal responsibility. “
As infections continue to rise, officials are asking residents not to meet with friends or family they don’t live with during the July 4 weekend.
Newsom said state public health officials are very concerned that Californians will let their guard down during one of the most social holidays of the year, traditionally a festive time celebrated with backyard barbecues, public fireworks shows and trips to beaches. , rivers and lakes. Those meetings have the potential to accelerate the spread of the coronavirus.
To that end, officials have moved to avoid some of the communal traditions that typically mark the holiday. The vast majority of Southern California’s beaches will be closed for the weekend of July 4, and Newsom has recommended that all fireworks shows in the hardest hit counties be canceled.
“This will not be the type of July 4 weekend that most of us are used to, nor should it be,” Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn said in a statement.
“The increase we’ve seen in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations across our county should alarm us all. We all have to make personal sacrifices to protect the people we love and our communities from this virus. “
San Francisco city and community leaders also held an online press conference on Thursday to urge residents to stay home during the holidays.
Dr. Grant Colfax, the city’s director of public health, said San Francisco has seen a “significant and alarming increase in COVID-19 infections.”
“Our rates have skyrocketed,” he said. “We are in a situation where we could be seeing early signs of increase.”
However, the capacity of local hospitals remains in good repair, and the city accepts patients from other more affected areas, including 18 inmates from the San Quintín state prison, he said.
“Once this virus takes off at a high speed, it is very aggressive,” said Colfax.
Times staff writers Rong-Gong Lin II, Colleen Shalby, Alejandra Reyes-Velarde, Hannah Fry, Taryn Luna, Dakota Smith, and Stephanie Lai contributed to this report.
