If you live in the City of Los Angeles, you might’ve gotten a text message on Wednesday night that warns you about rapidly rising coronavirus cases and that you can’t meet other people who don’t live in your own household.
And if you tapped into the full text of Mayor Eric Garcetti’s Targeted Safer at Home Order or scanned the local headlines, you might’ve alarmingly even come across this foreboding line: “Subject only to the exceptions outlined in this Order, all persons living within the City of Los Angeles are hereby ordered to remain in their homes.” And similarly, you might’ve seen lines that say, other than specified exceptions, “all businesses… are ordered to cease operations that require in-person attendance” and that “all travel… is prohibited.”
Here’s the thing: No one is actually forbidding you from leaving your home. The city’s order simply mimics the county’s Targeted Safer at Home Order that was announced last week and went into effect on Monday, as well as the already-in-place 10pm curfew and outdoor dining ban. And the exceptions hinted at above are numerous and familiar.
So you can still go to the supermarket, get gas, pick up takeout food, go to the beach, go for a hike, walk your dog, visit the library, pick up a growler at a brewery, play golf, go to the mall, get your hair cut, go to an outdoor gym, attend a protest—you get the idea. Angelenos are no more locked down down on Wednesday night than they were on Wednesday morning. And in general, the order allows even more businesses to stay open than in March during the initial Safer at Home Order.
But make no mistake: This is a dire time in Los Angeles, with record-setting numbers of new coronavirus cases and daily hospitalizations. In an address on Wednesday evening, Garcetti urged Angelenos to “hunker down” and said that “It’s time to cancel everything.” So we can only encourage you to take that advice, and to wear a face covering and practice social distancing when you do leave your home.
KTLA which, ahem, ran quite an initial headline, updated their story about Angelenos being “ordered to remain in their homes” with a comment from a city spokesperson, who confirms that the order is indeed identical in substance to the county that went into effect on Monday. The city’s identical guidelines were published to the website as “a formality that occurs each time the order is revised.” As a quick refresher, both orders ban gatherings with people outside of your own household, reduce the capacities at many still-operating indoor businesses and shut down playgrounds and card rooms.
Meanwhile, Pasadena—which operates its own health department—issued a similar limited stay-at-home order on Wednesday, but that city is still allowing outdoor dining.
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