Question: Are the new restrictions in Los Angeles too strict?
As Covid-19 cases increase, new restrictions have been put in place in Los Angeles County. On Sunday, November 22, it was announced that outdoor dining would no longer be allowed in Los Angeles County for at least three weeks. On Friday the 27th, the day after Thanksgiving, L.A. County announced a new stay-at-home order which prohibits all private and public gatherings which include people from multiple households, except for religious gatherings and political protests, and also puts additional occupancy limits on businesses.
From the LA Times:
• Officials have warned that even more strict rules — perhaps a more formal stay-at-home order — are likely if L.A. can’t begin to bend the curve on this third wave.
• Two months ago, officials estimated that 1 in 880 L.A. County residents were infected with the coronavirus; now, they believe it’s 1 in 145 and climbing, meaning the activities that people once enjoyed safely now pose more risk.
• Public health officials on Saturday reported 3,143 new cases of the virus and 19 deaths but said that the numbers were low because no community testing was offered on Thanksgiving, and only limited testing was performed the day after. Nonetheless, officials said, the proportion of tests coming back positive doubled over the last two weeks, reaching 7.4%.
• Even though she works outside at a kiosk — just outside Skechers — Anabel Velazquez worries about the health risk. She says people take offense when she reminds them to wear a mask or wear it properly — which is ironic because she sells masks and was herself sporting one with a Playboy logo.
From The Guardian:
• Restaurants across the state have also invested significant resources in setting up outdoor dining, which has added to the frustration with the shutdown. Guerrilla Tacos spent roughly $27,000 to create an outdoor space and has been selling out reservations, making a slim profit.
• Other LA restaurant owners said they were worried this shutdown would force them to permanently close.
• Some conservative parts of the state, including Huntington Beach, south of LA, have protested against Newsom’s restrictions, with some urging him to “open California” at a rally after curfew rules went into effect Saturday night.
• Newsom recently faced scrutiny after photos emerged of him dining out with other families at French Laundry, one of California's most expensive and upscale restaurants.
Restrictions in Los Angeles
Your Name
Subject and Section
Professor's Name
December 2, 2020
The COVID-19 Pandemic has indeed taken a toll on the security and economy of the United States. Numerous cities and localities have experienced a tremendous increase in infection rates despite the safety protocols that should be in place. Accordingly, one of the United States counties that have imposed what some might consider a "strict protocol" is Los Angeles County. This debate is because this jurisdiction has imposed various safety protocols such as banning public and private gatherings, even for families from multiple households CITATION Wig20 \l 1033 (Wigglesworth, Blume, & Linn II, 2020). Despite this, however, the author strongly believes that such protocols are not 'stringent' but are instead in line with the state policy of protecting the public and the necessity to curb the infection rate for everyone.
Protocol Analysis
One of the main reasons why the author believes that the current protocols in the Los Angeles country are not excessively strict is balancing between a dynamic and proactive policy approach. A closer analysis of the county's protocols would suggest that uses a dynamic approach that increases and decreases (in strictness) depending on how many cases there are. Although a more 'proactive' method such as social distancing and isolationist policy would be better at curbing the rates of infection, county officials even decrease the strictness of these policies whenever there are low infection rates. In other words, rather than merely imposing harsh policies that would reduce infection rates drastically (proactive approach), county officials allow movement and gatherings in order to pave the ...