The mayor of Los Angeles on Tuesday back-pedaled from his health director’s assertion that stay-at-home orders in America’s second-largest city would be extended at least through July, after those comments touched off a furor among beleaguered residents.
The remarks by Los Angeles County Health Director Barbara Ferrer, reported by the Los Angeles Times, came as other major US cities and states begin to ease the sweeping restrictions imposed weeks ago in the face of the coronavirus pandemic.
“I want to reassure people because I think there was a lot of panic suddenly when the headlines said we’re all going to stay exactly as we are for three more months when that’s not the case,” Mayor Eric Garcetti told CNN in an interview.
Ferrer could not be reached by Reuters for comment on Tuesday. State health statistics show that the number of daily COVID-19 fatalities and new cases have risen in Los Angeles County since March.
California Governor Gavin Newsom said on Tuesday that restaurants in parts of the state could begin allowing diners again under modified condition and that outdoor shopping malls could open for curbside pickup.
“It’s a mistake to over-promise what reopening means,” said Newsom, who has been more cautious than some governors in reopening his state.
Fauci warns of reopening
Earlier on Tuesday, top White House infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci told Congress that lifting the sweeping coronavirus lockdowns could touch off new outbreaks of the illness, which has killed 80 000 Americans and badly damaged the US economy.
Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told a US Senate panel that the virus epidemic is not yet under control in areas of the nation.
“I think we’re going in the right direction, but the right direction does not mean we have by any means total control of this outbreak,” Fauci said during the 3-1/2-hour hearing.
He urged states to follow health experts’ recommendations to wait for signs, including a declining number of new infections, before reopening.
“There is a real risk that you will trigger an outbreak that you may not be able to control and, in fact paradoxically, will set you back, not only leading to some suffering and death that could be avoided, but could even set you back on the road to try to get economic recovery,” Fauci said of premature steps.
The COVID-19 respiratory disease caused by the new coronavirus has infected more than 1.3 million Americans and killed more than 80 600.
Medical researchers have been scrambling to find not only an effective vaccine but also drugs for treatment until a vaccine comes to market.
In New York, Governor Andrew Cuomo said that his state needs $61 billion in federal stimulus to help reopen its economy. He called on Congress and US President Donald Trump to support legislation that would address funding gaps, a problem he stressed was dogging Republican and Democratic governors.
“This economy has been damaged through no fault of anyone,” said Cuomo, a Democrat. “But to get this economy back up again and running, we are going to need an intelligent stimulus bill from Washington.”
