Los Angeles County now has more confirmed cases of coronavirus than “all of Canada,” Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said during a press conference Monday about the virus. He also emphasized that if Los Angeles County were an “independent country,” “it would have the twentieth majority of cases in the world.”
When Garcetti made the statement Monday, the county public health department reported on 136,000 laboratory-confirmed cases of the coronavirus in the county. There were more than 2,500 new cases reported Monday and 13 deaths, according to county data at the time.
In Canada, there have been 110,234 confirmed cases of the disease, resulting in 8,843 deaths as of Tuesday, according to Johns Hopkins University figures.
“We have never had so many people infected or infectious. We have never had so many positive cases recorded every day. And we have never had as many people in the hospital as there are tonight while I speak to you in Los Angeles.” Garcetti said. He said the area has to “go back to the point where we have control of COVID-19 again.”
Earlier this month, Garcetti released a new indicator showing the current threat level for the coronavirus in Los Angeles using colors ranging from green to red, CBS Los Angeles reported. He said Monday that the threat level will remain orange, but is “on the verge of going red,” the highest threat level.
“When the indicator is orange, you want to stay home as often as you can, and just go to essential activities like going to work or going to the market, and you have to assume that everyone around you is infectious,” Garcetti said. She said that when the indicator was first announced, CBS Los Angeles reported at the time.
During Monday’s press conference, Garcetti urged the city to continue to take precautions against the spread of the coronavirus, such as maintaining social distancing and washing hands, telling people that “we are not in a place where we can relax.”
“We saw the impact, the success of doing that in the past and we need to continue to see it now. Why? Because lives are at stake,” said Garcetti. “We have already lost too many. We know that we lose more every day. And we want to do everything possible to make that number as small as possible.”
He backed away Governor Gavin Newsom’s Order On Monday it will close closed businesses across the state, including restaurants, bars, wineries, cinemas, zoos, and museums. Newsom imposed strict restrictions on 30 counties, including Los Angeles, closing indoor operations at gyms, houses of worship, noncritical offices, personal care services, beauty salons, hair salons, and shopping malls.
Garcetti also said that he supports the decision of Los Angeles Public Schools Offer classes online only when the fall semester begins next month, due to the increase in cases.
California is just one of dozens of states who have recently experienced spikes in the virus, including Florida, Arizona and Texas The United States continues to be the global epicenter of the disease, with 3,397,069 confirmed cases in total as of Tuesday, according to figures from Johns Hopkins University.
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