L.A. COUNTY DECLARES PRECAUTIONARY HEALTH EMERGENCY

L.A. County has declared a health emergency after six new cases of coronavirus cases were confirmed Tuesday night, bringing the number of people infected to seven. All of these individuals were exposed to COVID-19 through close contacts, rather than being connected to community spreading, officials told the L.A. Times.

“We have to be prepared. We have to protect the well-being of our loved ones and our neighbors,” said Mayor Eric Garcetti.

Three of the new cases had visited Northern Italy, where the spread of the virus has reached pandemic proportions; two are family members who had close contact with someone outside of the county who was infected; and the sixth had a job that put them in contact with travelers.

Only one of these individuals has been hospitalized; the others are isolated at home.

The county’s move comes as the government has increased testing, which officials have warned will show a significant number of new cases.

“I want to reiterate this is not a response rooted in panic,” County Supervisor Kathryn Barger told the Times. “We need every tool at our disposal.”

L.A. joins a growing number of California jurisdictions—including Pasadena, Long Beach and Marin County, none of which has any confirmed cases--to take the action, which is designed to better marshal resources from across government agencies and give the fight against the virus more focus.

The declaration is meant to increase preparation efforts around the fight against the virus. Like other counties, the action would allow the county to ask the state and other counties for aid if local resources are exhausted.

L.A. County will increase its capacity for testing of the virus at its local public health laboratory. Officials will start doing daily radio briefings for the public, post new guidelines for schools and colleges and send technical assistance teams to every interim housing facility over the next week.