Public Health Announces Timeline for Sector Re-openings

35 New Deaths and 1,148 New Positive Cases of Confirmed COVID-19 in Los Angeles County

The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health (Public Health), in consultation with the Board of Supervisors, will revise the Health Officer Order to allow for limited in-door operations at nail salons and shopping malls, outdoor operations for cardrooms, re-opening of outside playgrounds and the school waiver program for grades TK-2.

The following sectors and program will be allowed to reopen on the following dates under the following restrictions:

Sector	Date of Reopening	Restrictions
Nail Salons	October 1	Indoor services may resume at 25% capacity. Outdoor services should continue as much as possible.
Schools (TK-2) Waiver Program	Applications can be submitted on October 5	Limited to 30 schools per week.
Cardrooms	October 5	Outdoor operations only.  Food and beverages may not be served at the tables.
Indoor Shopping Malls	October 7	Occupancy limited to 25% capacity; all food courts and all common areas remain closed.
Outside Playgrounds	At the discretion of cities and L.A. County Parks and Recreation	Face coverings and physical distancing are required.

Public Health is consulting with County Counsel to determine the process and date for re-opening outdoor operations at breweries and wineries serving a meal. We anticipate this process will be completed in a week.

Beginning Monday, October 5, school waiver applications for in-person instruction for students in grades TK-2 will be available online at publichealth.lacounty.gov. Applications will be received and reviewed by Public Health in consultation with the State. Schools must follow all required school re-opening protocols for infection control, distancing, and cohorting. Students will be in cohorts of no more than 12 children and two supervising adults in each classroom. This group of students and adults will need to stay together throughout the entire day for all activities. Every school that re-opens will receive a site visit from Public Health. Public Health has a dedicated team of specialists providing technical assistance and disease management control to all schools that are re-opened or re-opening.

Comprehensive protocols for all sectors that reopen will be posted online to ensure the continued health and safety of workers and the community.  Businesses are required to implement the protocols for infection control and distancing prior to reopening to ensure they are in compliance, and to avoid citations, fines and possible closure.  Businesses have a duty to protect employees, customers and residents from COVID-19 as much as possible and to follow Public Health protocols and directives. It is important for everyone to follow the directives and to do their part every day to keep everyone as safe as possible.

Today, Public Health has confirmed 35 new deaths and 1,148 new cases of confirmed COVID-19. To date, Public Health has identified 271,371 positive cases of COVID-19 across all areas of L.A. County, and a total of 6,610 deaths.

“We send our deepest condolences to those who are suffering the loss of someone they love due to COVID-19,” said Barbara Ferrer, PhD, MPH, MEd, Director of Public Health. “As more sectors reopen and more students attend in-person classes in L.A. County, we must be sure that every business or sector that is re-opening complies with 100% of the safety directives. If the new re-openings result in increased community transmission, our recovery journey may need to slow down.”

Of the 35 new deaths reported today, 11 people that passed away were over the age of 80 years old, 13 people who died were between the ages of 65 and 79 years old, eight people who died were between the ages of 50 and 64 years old, and two people who died were between the ages of 30 and 49 years old. Thirty-two people who died had underlying health conditions including 11 people over the age of 80 years old, 12 people between the ages of 65 and 79 years old, eight people between the ages of 50 and 64 years old, and one person between the ages of 30 and 49 years old.  One death was reported by the City of Pasadena.

Ninety-two percent of the people who died from COVID-19 had underlying health conditions. Of those who died, information about race and ethnicity is available for 6,223 people (99 percent of the cases reported by Public Health); 51% of deaths occurred among Latino/Latinx residents, 23% among White residents, 15% among Asian residents, 10% among African American/Black residents, less than 1% among Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander residents and 1% among residents identifying with other races.  Upon further investigation, 76 cases and one death reported earlier were not L.A. County residents.

 Testing results are available for nearly than 2,677,000 individuals with 9% of all people testing positive. There are 746 people currently hospitalized with COVID-19 and 27% of these people are in the ICU.

The Reopening Protocols, COVID-19 Data Dashboard, Recovery Metrics, Recovery Dashboard, and additional things you can do to protect yourself, your family and your community are on the Public Health website, www.publichealth.lacounty.gov.

Please see additional information below: