LA County public health director: Stay-at-home order ‘with all certainty’ will last through end of July

Los Angeles County’s stay-at-home order will “with all certainty” remain in place through the end of July, Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said in a board meeting Tuesday.

While the county lifted some restrictions last week, including reopening some trails and letting some retailers reopen for curbside service, further rollback of lockdown rules is likely to be slow going, Ferrer said Tuesday, according to the Los Angeles Times.

“Our hope is that by using the data, we’d be able to slowly lift restrictions over the next three months,” she said, but she added that lack of widely available testing, either in therapeutic settings or in a rapid at-home form, would likely prevent a speedy lifting of restrictions.

Anthony Fauci, America’s top infectious disease official, has warned that states risk further outbreaks if they reopen without meeting Centers for Disease Control and Prevention thresholds that include 14 consecutive days of declining cases. However, the majority of states are now at some stage of reopening, most without achieving the 14-day target.

LA County, too, is set to reopen beaches on Wednesday even after confirmed cases have continued to rise. Residents using the beaches will be prohibited from sunbathing and only active recreational activities like surfing, running, walking and swimming, will be permitted. People will be required to wear masks for all activities outside the water.

LA County, the most populous county in the state, reported another 566 people testing positive Monday as well as another 39 deaths. The county accounts for more than half of the statewide death toll, while other parts of the state have seen a decline in both deaths and reported cases.

Ferrer on Monday echoed Fauci, who has said continued social distancing is necessary to avoid undoing the existing progress.

“It’s safer to stay at home. COVID-19 has not changed,” she said, according to the Times.