LA County Public Health Officials Announce New Stay-at-Home Order Citing COVID-19 Cases Rise

The temporary and limited stay-at-home restrictions prohibit all outdoors gatherings, except for church services and protests. Citizens are also obligated to always wear masks outside and stay at home as much as possible.

“Residents are advised to stay home as much as possible and always wear a face covering over their nose and mouth when they are outside their household and around others,” the county public health department said.

​The order will also affect several businesses, including "essential retail", setting their maximum capacity at 35%, while "non-essential retail", such as shopping malls, have to keep their maximum occupancy at 20%.

The outdoor operations of fitness centres, museums, zoos, aquariums, gardens, mini-golf, batting cages and go-kart racing will be limited to 50% of their capacity. Beaches, trails, parks, golf courses, tennis courts, pickleball, skate parks, bike parks and community parks will be opened, however meetings of mixed households will still be banned.

"Non-essential" businesses and activities such as outdoor playgrounds and cardrooms will be temporarily closed. 

To date, the United States still has the highest COVID-19 rate in the world, with 13,427,327 confirmed cases and 270,783 fatalities as of Friday evening.