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Los Angeles Issues Stay-at-Home Order to Curb COVID

VOA News

   A surge in new coronavirus cases has led California's Los Angeles
   County to issue a new three-week, stay-at-home order which will go into
   effect Monday.

   The county had said previously that it would issue the restrictive
   order when new COVID-19 cases reached an average of 4,500 per day over
   a five-day period.

   On Friday, the five-day average was 4,751.

   The order prohibits gatherings, publicly or privately, of people who do
   not live in the same household.

   Stores deemed essential will be allowed to remain open, operating at
   50% capacity. Other retail stores will remain open but will only be
   able to operate at 20% capacity during the holiday shopping season.

   U.S. health officials say the numbers of new COVID-19 cases may appear
   erratic in the coming days, a result of fewer tests being administered
   during the Thanksgiving holiday and the reduced schedules of tests
   sites.

   Reports of new cases may seem lower than usual because of the holiday,
   but the numbers, experts say, would not give an accurate account of
   where the U.S. is in fighting the virus. On Friday, the U.S. surpassed
   the 13 million mark in number of coronavirus cases, more than anyplace
   else in the world, according to Johns Hopkins University.

   Dr. Leana Wen, an emergency physician and a George Washington
   University professor, told the Associated Press, "I just hope that
   people don't misinterpret the numbers and think that there wasn't a
   major surge as a result of Thanksgiving, and then end up making
   Christmas and Hanukkah and other travel plans."

   The number of COVID-19 patients being treated in hospitals across the
   United States reached 90,000 Friday after nearly doubling in the last
   month, according to the Reuters news agency. The hospitalizations
   follow weeks of rising infection rates in the United States and have
   increased worries that the recent Thanksgiving gatherings would lead to
   even more infections and hospitalizations.

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