Democratic California Rep. Karen Bass called for a new set of stay-at-home orders for Los Angeles County during a Sunday morning “State of the Union” appearance on CNN.
Bass also implied that the near-universal adherence to a mask mandate that has been in place for months in the county hasn’t been enough as coronavirus cases spike in California with, as host Jake Tapper cited, LA County being responsible for “more than 40% of the coronavirus positive cases in the entire state of California.”
“As of right now, LA County has no plans to shut down,” Tapper said. “In addition to being a congresswoman, you are a former physician’s assistant. You are a nurse. If you were up to you, would LA County reimplement stay-at-home orders?”
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“LA County is evaluating that and it’s very possible, and it’s also very sad because in California and LA County we were very aggressive,” Bass said. “The county and the state did what they were supposed to do, and in hindsight, I think that we opened a little too quickly and that has been the problem.”
Bass insisted that county leaders would “follow the science” in determining “whether or not we open or we close” before touching on mask compliance as well as other states that haven’t been as strict on lockdowns as in California.
“You really can’t go anywhere in LA without seeing people with masks on so it just shows how challenging this virus is,” she said. “But if you think about many other states where the governor is saying one thing, the governors and mayors are fighting. You can understand why that’s not under control but LA County has done what it should have done in the beginning. Opened a little too fast and I know we’ll follow the science.”
“You know what the science is,” Tapper pressed. “I’m just asking you a hypothetical, if you were in charge of LA County would you go back to stay-at-home orders in order to reduce the spread of this deadly virus? Yes or no?” (RELATED: ‘It’s All Baloney’: Greg Gutfeld Rips Coronavirus ‘Narrative Pushed By The Media’)
“If I were in charge of LA County I would go back to that and I would be very, very conservative about how we opened up so you know you have to show a certain amount before you open back up,” Bass responded. “There needs to be a time period around three weeks and I think we didn’t strictly adhere to that so yes, I would go back and I would open very, very conservative.”
Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom already introduced measures earlier this month to roll back reopening statewide, banning indoor operations of restaurants, bars, and movie theaters as well as closing churches, barbershops, gyms, and hair salons in the hardest-hit counties.
