Coronavirus: Garcetti Says Reopening Will Be Ongoing Process; COVID Response Equity Chief Named
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) — Mayor Eric Garcetti said Friday that Los Angeles would be working with other officials in the county to start the process of reopening, but said that there could be more restrictions at first as the number of coronavirus cases and deaths continues to grow.
"While in the city, we could move forward with more restriction at the beginning, this will be something in which the state and the county will be the leads on," he said. "But I intend to bring the voice of community and of industries and people who are saying, 'Here are safe ways that we propose to get those openings,' and then work together with my fellow mayors of L.A. County across all 88 cities and our board of supervisors to arrive at those things together."
The mayor said the city has a "dynamic" year ahead of it, with restrictions slowly being lifted and assessed.
"May 15 is just one day where we may see the order revised," Garcetti said. "Two weeks later, it could get revised again, two weeks after that it could get revised again.
"If it's successful, maybe you can sometimes proceed," he said. "If it's stable, you hold, and if it gets worse, you have to retreat as well, because we know that lives are at stake and overwhelming the hospital system is something that is unacceptable to us all."
And while he said he did not think a relaxing of orders would happen before May 15, he said he was confident that a plan to begin safely reopening would be in place in the next two weeks.
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Garcetti also named Capri Maddox, executive director of the city's new Department of Civil and Human Rights, chief of COVID-19 Response Equity to focus on communities disproportionately affected by the pandemic.
"Her mandate is to keep equity as the primary lens through which we refract our reaction, at every stage of our response," Garcetti said. "She'll work on strategies to help more low-income residents and communities of color access available testing, get medical care when they need it for COVID-19 symptoms and for other life-threatening illnessess."
The mayor also said that she would work with community partners to identify where the impact of the pandemic was unequal and build new strategies to protect people and prevent illness.
"As long as this pandemic persists, we will serve every Angeleno, no matter who you are," Garcetti said. "And we will provide services to every community."
