Coronavirus: 50 New LA County Cases, New Closures & Aid Measures

LOS ANGELES, CA — Fifty new cases of coronavirus were reported in Los Angeles Tuesday, and as the outbreak grows, so does the list of closures around the city. Restaurants, movie theaters and department stores shut down Tuesday, and community leaders are calling on residents to stay home and look out for the vulnerable members of the community by not hoarding necessities.

The sharp increase in coronavirus cases — which brings the countywide total to 144 — likely reflects an increase in testing, and similar increases should be anticipated, Los Angeles County's public health director said.

Dr. Barbara Ferrer cautioned that the increase in the county's cases — up more than 50% from Monday — should not be seen as a failure of "social distancing" measures that have been taken, such as closing bars and restaurants and cautioning against gatherings.

"If you look across the world, it generally takes three to four weeks to see the fruits of our labors," she said.

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Here's are the latest developments from the outbreak:

• Statewide, there have been 11 coronavirus deaths.
• All criminal and civil jury trials in the Los Angeles County Superior Court System have been halted until April 16.
• The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors has followed the city of Los Angeles in enacting an emergency moratorium on evictions in unincorporated areas. The county's moratorium will affect residential and commercial evictions retroactive to March 4 and will remain in place until May 31.
• LA County hospitals will be canceling elective surgeries to increase capacity to treat coronavirus patients.
• The Archdiocese of Los Angeles has cancelled all masses for the time being.
• The federal government has pushed back the April 15 deadline to pay taxes, giving individuals and many businesses owing less than $1 million 90 additional days to pay the government. However, taxes still need to be filed by April 15.
• The nation's largest two movie chains AMC and Regal Entertainment Group closed all its theaters to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
• Department Stores are closing, including: Nordstrom, Macy's, Bloomingdale's, Bluemercury, Macy's Backstage, Bloomingdales, the Outlet and Market by Macy's stores.
• Gov. Newsom recommended people older than 65 self-quarantine in their homes because they are more susceptible to becoming more seriously ill if they contract the virus.

Among the 50 newly identified cases, authorities are working to determining the patients' sources of exposure. Increasingly, new cases are being attributed to "community transmission." That means authorities can't trace the infection back to any particular source, a sign that it is circulating in the community.

Three of the new cases were reported earlier in the day by Long Beach, where a total of eight cases have now been confirmed. Of the three new Long Beach cases, two were people who had traveled to coronavirus-affected areas.

County Supervisor Hilda Solis said the county was enacting an emergency moratorium on all residential and commercial evictions in unincorporated areas. The moratorium will be retroactive to March 4 and will remain in place until May 31, she said. The move is aimed at protecting tenants who may find themselves unable to pay rent because they lost work due to the coronavirus restrictions. Under the moratorium, tenants would be given up to six months to repay missed rent.

Supervisor Kathryn Barger, meanwhile, sought to assure business owners who have been forced to close due to the pandemic -- most notably bars, movie theaters, nightclubs, bowling alleys and restaurants -- that the county will be working to assist them with federal loans.

"In addition to our focus on public health ... we are equally focused on the personal and economic impacts and putting measures in place to protect employees and small businesses," she said.

Barger said the county "is committed to assisting small businesses in applying for loans through the Small Business Administration."

"While the Small Business Administration is not at the county level, we will be working with state and federal representatives and our partner agencies," she said. "... We do not want any business to fall through the cracks."

The county officials urged business owners to comply with the closure orders, while also calling on residents to heed warnings against public gatherings.

Ferrer specifically cited recent media footage of crowds inside grocery stores and long lines of tightly quartered customers waiting in check- out lines.

She called on residents to "practice social distancing whenever you're out and about."

All Los Angeles County Superior Court courthouses and courtrooms were closed to the public Tuesday and will remain shuttered until Friday.

Between Friday and April 16, courtrooms will generally remain closed, but with a long list of exceptions for necessary court proceedings, such as restraining order hearings, emergency custody issues, arraignments, criminal preliminary hearings, sentencing hearings and emergency orders "relating to the health and safety of a child."

The court system earlier pushed off any new civil or criminal jury trials for at least the next 30 days, while giving trial judges discretion about whether to continue jury trials that were already in session.

Ferrer has repeatedly stressed the building threat of "community transmission" of the coronavirus, meaning people are being infected without any known source of exposure. Such transmission often means that patients are being exposed to people who have the illness but are unaware they are infected.

In addition to closing bars and ordering restaurants to eliminate dine- in service, the county has also ordered the closure of all fitness centers, entertainment centers, bowling alleys and movie theaters. Under the order, restaurants are restricted to takeout or delivery service.

The mandate applies to all cities within the county, as well as unincorporated areas. Long Beach and Pasadena, which have their own health departments, have also issued the same requirements.

The city of Los Angeles issued a similar mandate for the city Sunday night, following Gov. Gavin Newsom's recommendation that such restrictions be enacted statewide. Newsom also recommended people older than 65 self-quarantine in their homes because they are more susceptible to becoming more seriously ill if they contract the virus.

On Tuesday morning, state health officials reported a total of 472 cases statewide and 11 deaths.

Mayor Eric Garcetti raised the city's emergency response status Monday to its highest level in order to be able to request more federal and state assistance to combat the outbreak.

Los Angeles will not issue parking tickets during street sweeping hours in residential areas and payment of parking fines was delayed until June 1, Garcetti said. Metered parking spaces outside businesses will continue to be enforced.

The Los Angeles Police Department said the first case of COVID-19 within the department was confirmed Sunday in one of its Pacific Division supervisors. The supervisor exhibited flu-like symptoms March 5 and was sent home. He is improving and expects to make a full recovery, according to the LAPD.

On Sunday, officials announced that a police officer at Los Angeles International Airport, a member of the Airport Police, had also tested positive.

Two contract workers testing arriving passengers for signs of coronavirus at LAX had previously been confirmed as testing positive for the illness.

Dr. Christina Ghaly, who runs the county hospital system, asked residents to preserve emergency room capacity at all area hospitals for those in need.

Like many of the roughly 100 hospitals across Los Angeles County, county hospitals will be canceling elective surgeries to increase capacity. The county is also increasing access to tele-medicine services.

Los Angeles County has closed all of its buildings because of the coronavirus. County hospitals and clinics will remain open. It's not yet known how long the closures will remain in effect.

The city of Santa Monica closed the Santa Monica Pier, parking deck and affiliated businesses as part of its local emergency proclamation.

An emergency ordinance closing most businesses in Beverly Hills, including on the famed Rodeo Drive, was in effect following an emergency meeting by its City Council in response to the coronavirus outbreak.

The ordinance calls for the closure of "all non-essential retail businesses," except for pick up, delivery and certain transactions by appointment.

Major retailers such as Macy's and Nordstrom have announced closures of all their locations nationwide.

The Los Angeles Regional Food Bank announced Monday a $250,000 gift from the Los Angeles Chargers to help ensure hunger relief services continue uninterrupted for Los Angeles County children, seniors, individuals and families amid the coronavirus crisis.

Northgate Gonzales Market chain will open all of its 41 Southern California locations one hour early each day for senior citizens and disabled customers. The chain has 19 stores in Los Angeles County and 13 in Orange County. Locations can be found on the company's website. Vallarta Supermarkets also implemented early opening hours for seniors and the disabled.

City News Service and Patch Staffer Paige Austin contributed to this report.