Full Notification

During the past several weeks, the rate of new COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations in the Southern California region has increased dramatically, straining the healthcare system and causing alarmingly low Intensive Care Unit (ICU) availability.

Due to this, the State of California’s Health and Human Services Secretary, Dr. Mark Ghaly, announced that the State Regional State Stay at Home Order remains in effect at this time for the region. The Order first took effect on Sunday, December 6, 2020. According to the California Department of Public Health (CPDH), a region is only eligible to exit from the Order if ICU capacity projections are above or equal to 15 percent availability. CDPH reports that available ICU capacity for the Southern California region is 0.0 percent.

Everyone in California must adhere to the State Regional Stay at Home Order when it is activated in a region. Community members are required to stay at home as much as possible and minimize mixing to reduce unnecessary exposure.

For details about the State Regional Stay at Home Order, please visit the CDPH website, which contains links to the full Regional Stay Home Order, Supplement to the Order, and frequently asked questions. The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, additionally, revised its Temporary Targeted Health Officer Safer at Home Order, to align it with the State Order.

The City of West Hollywood is suspending the following parking regulations for the duration of the State Regional Stay at Home Order while the order remains in effect for the Southern California region: Permit parking enforcement on all residential streets; Street sweeping enforcement; and AM/PM peak hour enforcement on Fountain Avenue. Safety violations will continue to be enforced. Please contact the Parking Violations Bureau at (800) 687-2458 with all citation related questions. Details are available at www.weho.org/parking.

“COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations continue to surge and our region is seeing record-high numbers. This remains a critical time for all of us to continue to take steps to prevent community spread,” said City of West Hollywood Mayor Lindsey P. Horvath. “Our healthcare workers are stretched to the limit right now and our region’s ICUs have been overwhelmed in working to meet demand for patient care throughout Southern California. Our public health experts implore all of us to continue to adhere to the State Regional Stay at Home Order, which will remain in effect at this time. If you work in an essential sector or if you’re in public for essential needs, please be thoughtful about taking care of yourself and the people around you: wearing a mask, keeping a six-foot distance, and frequent hand-washing make a big impact on reducing community spread of COVID-19. This continues to be an extremely challenging moment for our community, for our state, and for the country, but we will get through this by taking care of ourselves and of one another.”

On Monday, December 28, 2020, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health confirmed 73 new deaths and 13,661 new cases of COVID-19. According to LA County Public Health, LA County consistently exceeds 13,000 cases per day with some days exceeding 15,000 cases. The current surge began 58 days ago; at that time, the average number of cases was approximately 1,200 cases per day. Since early November 2020 average daily hospitalizations of people with COVID-19 have increased more than 670 percent and average daily deaths have increased by 600 percent. Currently, on average, 9 to 10 people in LA County test positive for COVID-19 every minute, which equates to 540 to 600 people testing positive every hour. In LA County, there are currently approximately 7,000 people with COVID-19 hospitalized and 20 percent of these people are in the ICU.

The City of West Hollywood has declared a local emergency in response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak. Individuals are advised, at this time, to stay at home as much as possible and limit close interactions to those in your household. When in public for essential needs, community members should maintain your space with social (physical) distancing of at least six feet, and cover your face. Public Health officials recommend that everyone continue to follow physical distancing and infection control directives and wear a clean face covering that securely covers both your nose and mouth when in in public. Additionally, people 65 years old or older and all people of any age with underlying health conditions should remain at home whenever possible; people in these categories should only leave their residences to seek medical care, exercise, or obtain food or other necessities.

West Hollywood City Hall is currently closed to the public and has suspended all in-person transactions. Most public City buildings and facilities remain closed. City Hall remains accessible for business and essential services with transactions to be conducted by phone (323) 848-6400 and via the City’s website at www.weho.org.

City of West Hollywood coronavirus updates are available at www.weho.org/coronavirus and the City encourages community members to follow @wehocity on Twitter and Facebook and Instagram and turn on notifications for up-to-date information.

To view essential-business City meetings, tune in to WeHoTV at:

• www.weho.org/wehotv

Meetings can also be accessed via:

• www.youtube.com/wehotv

• Spectrum Channel 10 (in West Hollywood)

• SmartTV Apps: AndroidTV; AppleTV; FireTV; and Roku

For notifications by email, subscribe to the City’s E-Notifications at www.weho.org/email. Visit the City’s event and meetings calendar at www.weho.org/calendar and news archive at www.weho.org/news.

To receive urgent updates to your phone by text and to your email, text your ZIP code to 888-777.

For updates and information about the current numbers of COVID-19 cases in the United States, in the State of California, and in Los Angeles County, visit:

• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html

• California Department of Public Health (CDPH) www.cdph.ca.gov and covid19.ca.gov

• Los Angeles County Department of Public Health www.publichealth.lacounty.gov/media/Coronavirus

For reporters and members of the media seeking additional information about COVID-19 in Los Angeles County, please contact the LA County Department of Public Health Chief Communications Officer, Carl A. Kemp, at (213) 240-8144 or [email protected]. LA County Reopening Protocols, a COVID-19 Surveillance Interactive Dashboard, the Roadmap to Recovery, and additional details are available on its website at www.publichealth.lacounty.gov.

For reporters and members of the media seeking additional information about the City of West Hollywood, please contact the City of West Hollywood’s Public Information Officer, Sheri A. Lunn, at (323) 848-6391 or [email protected].