Democratic Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti told city residents “It’s time to cancel everything” as he issued new lockdown orders Wednesday in response to rising coronavirus infections.
“My message couldn’t be simpler,” Garcetti told media at an LA news conference. “It’s time to hunker down, it’s time to cancel everything. If it isn’t essential, don’t do it.”
JUST IN: Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti: “It’s time to cancel everything.” pic.twitter.com/oMiwjSTFWg
— The Hill (@thehill) December 3, 2020
The order was identical to one issued to LA County earlier in the week, Variety noted. The order requires residents to stay in their homes whenever possible, shuts down as all non-essential businesses that requires in-person staff to operate and prhibits residents from meeting with people who don’t live in the same house. (RELATED: Los Angeles Is Controlled By ‘Neurotic Megalomaniac’ Mayor Eric Garcetti)
However, health care facilities, grocery stores and restaurants that don’t require dining-in can stay open to the public, Variety noted.
Garcetti suggested that if current COVID-19 infection rates continue, hospital beds in Los Angeles will reach or exceed capacity by Christmas.
“The choices between us are stark: between health and sickness, between care and apathy, and yes, between life and death,” he said.
The mayor said those infection rates had tripled since early November, but those statics “don’t reflect yet the Thanksgiving effects of families’ time spent together … when many people were gathering together and travelling in defiance of public health warnings.”
California Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks during a news conference at the California Department of Public Health on Feb. 27, 2020 in Sacramento, California. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
Garcetti’s advice to locals before Thanksgiving was to “cancel those vacation plans” and to opt for “a chicken instead of a turkey.” (RELATED: Los Angeles Mayor Will Cut Of Power, Water To ‘Non-Essential’ Businesses That Defy Orders To Close)
Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom was caught “gathering together” with friends when he recently attended a large indoor dinner at the upscale restaurant The French Laundry in Napa Valley. Garcetti noted that Newsom apologized for violating his own coronavirus guidelines but said it was nonetheless a “tough, tough moment.”