On Friday, April 10, L.A. County announced they are extending their stay at home order to May 15 in order to slow the spread of COVID-19. The original mandate was set to end on April 19. All non-essential businesses will have to remain closed and residents are strongly encouraged to stay inside their homes.
According to the L.A. Times, the county had more than 8,400 confirmed cases as of Friday. The county also reported 242 deaths. However, the county’s stay at home order’s and non-essential business shutdowns have greatly slowed the spread of COVID-19. On Friday, L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti said that it was the fifth day in a row that the county reported only single-digit increases in COVID-19 cases.
Dr. Christina Ghaly, L.A. County’s director of health services said on Friday that “If you were to reduce physical distancing to the pre-health officer order levels, virtually all individuals in Los Angeles County, 95.6% per the model, would be infected by the pandemic by Aug. 1, 2020.” She added, “That number is starkly reduced, down to about 30%, if we maintain the current levels of physical distancing.”
