Los Angeles Mayor Garcetti Warns Angelenos To Stay Home for New Year’s Eve 2020

December 31, 2020 By: The Big Magazine Staff

Mayor Eric Garcetti urged Angelenos to cancel plans and stay home for New Year’s Eve during a Wednesday COVID-19 press briefing. The warning comes amid a record-breaking surge in coronavirus cases in Los Angeles County.

Los Angeles Mayor Garcetti Warns Angelenos To Stay Home for New Year’s Eve 2020

The mayor warned against planning large gatherings, labeled as “super-spreaders,” letting people know that the Los Angeles Police Department is planning to enforce restrictions.

As of Wednesday, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said it had made over 200 arrests and recovered illegal firearms at these events.

Currently, one in five Angelenos tested for the virus are positive, the mayor said Wednesday, meaning there is 20% test positivity across L.A. County. The County plans on a backlog of testing with major drive thru and walk-in sites closed during the New Year’s holiday, such as Dodger Stadium.

Health care workers were among the first to get the first vaccine shot, since the County has opened up its first three “vaccine points-of-dispensing” on Wednesday. The city plans to launch a fourth such “POD” in partnership with the L.A. County Department of Public Health.

The county has already surpassed 10,000 COVID-19 deaths as of Wednesday, a record high number of deaths from the virus in California. Officials announced earlier this week that it now requires residents who travel outside of the County to quarantine 10 days upon return.

The news follows on the heels of Gov. Gavin Newsom's announcement earlier Wednesday that a new, more contagious strain of the coronavirus initially reported in the United Kingdom and has been detected in Colorado has its first case in San Diego, California.

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