Continued Progress
Last week, Los Angeles County continued to make progress toward containing COVID-19. As of Tuesday, August 25, 2020, the County’s COVID-19 case rate had dropped below 200 per 100,000 residents over the previous two weeks, falling below the state’s threshold for the County to consider waivers allowing schools to reopen for in-person instruction.
As of Friday, August 28, 2020, the County continues to meet five of the six criteria to be removed from the state’s monitoring list, although it remains above the threshold of 100 cases per 100,000 residents. County officials indicated that once the County drops below 100 cases per 100,000 residents, they would proceed “very cautiously” to reopen any additional sectors. This is especially true given that Labor Day weekend is coming up, and that the County saw a spike in cases related to Memorial Day weekend events. At a press conference on Wednesday, August 26, L.A. County Public Health Director Dr. Barbara Ferrer stated that while there are no current plans to close parks or beaches for the holiday weekend, the County was working closely with the beach cities and its Parks and Harbor departments to increase enforcement of existing Health Officer Orders and would consider shutdowns if necessary.
In addition, while the County has now met the threshold for consideration of waivers for in-person education, the L.A. County Department of Public Health announced that as of Wednesday, August 26, 2020, the County would not be considering waivers to reopen schools at this time. This is consistent with the County’s conservative approach to reopening in general.
Enforcement—Delivery Fee Caps
On Wednesday, August 26, 2020, the Los Angeles City Council voted to have the City Attorney draft an ordinance to extend the cap on fees for food delivery services. The current fee cap, which was scheduled to sunset on August 31, 2020, will now remain in place until 90 days after restaurants are permitted to operate at full indoor capacity. The timeline for the return to indoor dining is not clear; however, the City of Los Angeles extended its Al Fresco outdoor dining program through the end of the year. The proposed ordinance would also add enforcement mechanisms, including fines, and a reporting mechanism for restaurants that have been charged fees in excess of the cap.
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