Monday, July 20, 2020

L.A. County May Support Worker Councils to Monitor COVID-19 Compliance

CITY NEWS SERVICE

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors is scheduled Tuesday to consider a proposal to facilitate worker-led “health councils” to monitor business compliance with public health orders.

Supervisors Sheila Kuehl and Mark Ridley-Thomas co-authored a motion recommending that the county reach out to labor leaders and business representatives and quickly come up with effective ways to monitor compliance with mandates to wear facial coverings, install protective shields and disinfect workplaces.

“Workplace and community transmission have been significant factors contributing to the spread of COVID-19 in communities across the region,” the motion reads in part. “While many businesses have been diligent in their efforts to comply with public health requirements, many others have not. This creates a public health risk not only for the businesses’ employees and customers but for the communities in which the businesses are located and in which their customers and employees live.”

Kuehl and Ridley-Thomas suggested that workers could be certified to monitor violations and report them to public health investigators for follow- up.

Saturday, July 11, 2020

County Courts Presiding Judge: Jury Trials in Criminal Cases Postponed Until August

CITY NEWS SERVICE

The presiding judge of Los Angeles County’s court system announced Friday that jury trials in criminal cases will not resume until August as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

Jury trials — which have been on hold in Los Angeles County since March 17 — are now set to begin resuming Aug. 10, according to the court.

“Throughout this unprecedented public health crisis, the court has implemented measures designed to protect the public it serves while safeguarding the rights of all participants in court proceedings,” Presiding Judge Kevin C. Brazile said in a statement released late Friday afternoon. `The court continues to evaluate this balance as the novel coronavirus contagion rate in Los Angeles County increases and public health authorities provide more guidance about how to slow its spread.

In Pasadena, the courthouse is at 300 E Walnut Street, in the block directly north of Pasadena City Hall.

The Los Angeles court system got approval from California’s Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye to issue the latest emergency order,

Thursday, July 9, 2020

Coronavirus Infections Continue Upward Trend in L.A. County; Record Number of Deaths Reported by State

By BRIAN DAY

The COVID-19 pandemic showed no signs of slowing down in Los Angeles County on Thursday as the state reported a record number of deaths.

California Department of Public Health officials reported 149 new fatalities due to the novel coronavirus and 7,031 new infections. Over the past week, the state averaged 8,043 new infections per day.

The state has seen an average of 73 deaths per day over the past seven days, Gov. Gavin Newsom said. He urged the public not to focus too much on daily figures, which can fluctuate greatly day-by day, in favor of weekly and bi-weekly averages.

State officials reported 114 deaths on Wednesday and 111 on Tuesday.

Prior to Thursday, the deadliest day of the pandemic had been April 22, when 115 deaths were reported, according to state data.

The average positivity rates in the state over the past seven-day and 14-day periods were both 7.3% on Thursday,

Wednesday, July 8, 2020

L.A. County Cracks Down on Price Gouging, Fines Up To $10,000 Per Violation

CITY NEWS SERVICE

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved an ordinance Tuesday to strengthen protections for consumers and small businesses and crack down on price gouging during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas recommended the ordinance, which authorizes civil actions against price gougers and penalties of up to $10,000 per violation.

The Department of Consumer and Business Affairs said it has received nearly 2,000 reports of price gouging and over 700 other complaints from a wide variety of consumers since a state of emergency was declared March 4th.

“It is unconscionable to exploit people’s fears during a pandemic and force them to pay exponentially more than is reasonable for goods and services, essential or otherwise,” Ridley-Thomas said.

“With this urgency ordinance, we now have more tools to protect consumers against price gouging, product hoarding and other predatory practices aimed at turning panic into profit,” he said. “Predators out there should hear us loud and clear today: we will not tolerate their abuse.”

Tuesday, July 7, 2020

LA County Sees Largest Number of New COVID-19 Cases Yet at 4,015

By BRIAN DAY

Health officials in Los Angeles County announced the largest-ever single-day increase in new detected infections on Tuesday, blaming the spike, in part, on a backlog of test results.

The L.A. County Department of Public Health reported 4,015 newly-detected COVID-19 infections and 46 new deaths. That brings total infections reported in the county to 120,539 – or about 43 percent of the state’s 277,774 cases. In all, 3,579 people have succumbed to the novel coronavirus in the county, making up 59 percent of all COVID-19 deaths reported in California.

New infections reported in L.A. County accounted for 66 percent of the newly detected COVID-19 cases in the state and 41 percent of the new deaths reported throughout California on Tuesday. State officials reported 111 new fatalities, bringing the statewide death toll to 6,448.

“The high number of cases are, in part, due to a backlog of about 2,000 test results received from one lab who just submitted lab results from July 2 through July 5 today,” according to a statement from the L.A.

Thursday, July 2, 2020

L.A. County Supervisors Look To Toughen Business Enforcement Of Health Orders

CITY NEWS SERVICE

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors next week will consider beginning the process of establishing fines and more quickly shutting down businesses that fail to adhere to public health orders designed to control spread of the coronavirus.

“We wanted to have a public trust relationship with our business community,” Supervisor Sheila Kuehl said in a statement announcing the motion she introduced with Supervisor Janice Hahn.

“We assumed businesses, who had indicated they would comply with directives in order to reopen, would follow the rules, but last weekend suggests that far too many people are shrugging off the danger,” Kuehl said. “The recent spike in cases and hospitalizations is very, very serious and jeopardizes our ability to care for people who get sick. This motion says, `Business owners, please take this seriously. We will fine you if you’re out of compliance, and if we find you’re out of compliance a second time, we will shut you down.”

Thursday, July 2, 2020

Villanueva Says Altadena Sheriff’s Station Will Remain Open — Again

Department faces layoffs due to budget cuts

By DONOVAN MCCRAY

Although many thought the issue had been resolved at least a month ago, Sheriff Alex Villanueva announced on Wednesday that the Altadena Sheriff’s Station will remain open.

“Although my department is suffering devastating budget cuts from the Board of Supervisors, I will not be closing Altadena and Marina Del Rey stations,” Villanueva wrote on Twitter.

On Monday, the Board of Supervisors approved a $34.9 billion revised budget for the 2020-21 fiscal year, which includes 655 potential layoffs, roughly 70 percent of which will impact sheriff’s jail operations.

Villanueva has pushed back on the proposed cuts.

Villanueva drew the ire of residents across the region after he announced that the Altadena and Marina Del Rey stations would be closed in July.

Later, Assemblyman Chris Holden said that Villanueva had backed away from closing the station.

Under the plan, deputies reportedly would have continued continue to report there to put on their gear and access their radio cars before patrolling the area.

Tuesday, June 30, 2020

L.A. County May Be Forced to Cut Child Support Enforcement

CITY NEWS SERVICE

Los Angeles County’s $34.9 billion revised budget for the 2020-21 fiscal year approved Monday includes 655 potential layoffs, roughly 70% of which are slated to come at the expense of the sheriff’s jail operations and 20% from the department that helps parents enforce child support orders.

Chief Executive Officer Sachi Hamai insisted the reason the sheriff’s department is hardest hit is because public safety departments are funded primarily through local revenues, including property and sales taxes, rather than federal and state dollars.

Supervisor Kathryn Barger, who highlighted her support for the sheriff’s department and her hope that more funding could be found before layoffs are necessary, backed up Hamai in that assertion.

However, Sheriff Alex Villanueva called the argument about funding sources a “fig leaf” for the board to hide behind, saying Hamai could choose to allocate other dollars to his department.

More than 40% of the county-generated revenue base already goes to public safety.

Tuesday, June 30, 2020

L.A. County COVID-19 Deaths Surpass 100,000 as Virus Resurges; Health Officials Call for Urgent Action

By BRIAN DAY

Detected cases of COVID-19 in Los Angeles County reached 100,772 Monday, and deaths topped 3,326, as officials warned that the novel coronavirus had resumed spreading at an alarming rate.

The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health reported 2,903 new infections, the largest single-day increase to date, and 22 new deaths on Monday.

“We’re quickly moving toward overwhelming our health care system and seeing even more devastating illness and death,” L.A. County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said. “We can’t sustain this level of increase. We just can’t.”

The seven-day average of new infections stood at nearly 2,000 on Monday, up from an average of 1,379 two weeks ago, according to county data.

In response, all L.A. County beaches were ordered closed from July 3 to July 6, L.A. County Supervisor Janice Hahn said in a written statement.

“We had almost 3,000 reported cases just today. We cannot risk having crowds at the beach this holiday weekend,” she said.

Saturday, June 27, 2020

Health Officials: ‘Face Mask Exempt’ Cards Are Bogus

CITY NEWS SERVICE

Los Angeles County health officials warned Friday that people are circulating bogus “Face Mask Exempt” cards, claiming they will get people out of wearing a face-covering despite state and local orders.

“These flyers and cards are NOT from a government agency and are not endorsed by the Department of Justice or any Los Angeles County department,” according to the county Department of Public Health Twitter page.

“Cloth face coverings MUST be worn anytime residents are around others not from their household, except by children under 2 and individuals with medical conditions that prevent use of a face covering,” county officials said.

Health officials posted photos of the phony cards, one of which is laminated and states in bold print, “I AM EXEMPT FROM ANY ORDINANCE REQUIRING FACE MASK USAGE IN PUBLIC.” The cards warn that anyone harassing the cardholder could be subject to penalties of the Department of Justice and face fines of up to $150,000.