Monday, April 20. The Mayor of Los Angeles provided an update surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic. Mayor Eric Garcetti outlined city structures that were directly affected by coronavirus. From a fiscal perspective, L.A. is in its worst economic shape since the recession. Eric Garcetti put a budget in place to stabilize the city’s economy. Within the Annual State of the City Address, Eric Garcetti confirmed a second wave of the virus. The second wave will factor into decisions made around lifting the Stay at Home Order. Mayor Garcetti covered the CARES Corps. He stated it would help with testing, that focuses on contact tracing of the virus. The CARE Corps. Is looking to be a long-term solution for the current systematic disparities that Los Angeles is facing.
Documented on April 17. The CARES Corps. proposal is a bridge between government and local businesses, by providing job training, loan programs, and unemployment insurance. The focal point is to match solutions to the need of every community. The CARES Corps mission includes working on the frontlines such as attaining food supply, health safety, and medical necessities. Other actions under this initiative includes childcare, assistance for the elderly, and expanding more care towards families and people with disability. It is a fusion of federal leadership, public health, and local government. This is looking to assist with preventing reduction in resources for all Americans when there is high demand on every scale. The Mayor of Los Angeles authored this proposal with the Mayor of Oklahoma City, David Holt and founding director of the Duke-Margolis Center for Health Policy, Mark McClellan to outline a “brand new infrastructure.”
As of Monday, April 20. Eric Garcetti summarized the current COVID-19 statistics surrounding Los Angeles. There were 17 additional deaths confirmed on Monday, this brings the total coronavirus related deaths in the L.A. County to 617. There were 1,491 new COVID-19 incidents reported April 20. In summary, there is a total amount of 13,816 coronavirus cases in the Los Angeles region. Although, there is evidence of the coronavirus curve is bending, Los Angeles is still in the preliminary stages of the pandemic. Angelenos should expect the numbers to increase in the future.
Various parts of the L.A. City structure have been affected by COVID-19. Mayor Garcetti noted that there is a need for extra trash pick-up, since more Angelenos are at home. L.A. County waived that extra charge for the double pick-up schedule. As new data and information come to light, L.A. natives have more questions. There is a 3-1-1 hotline that one can call for answers and solutions surrounding COVID-19. The City workforce filled roles they never expected. The L.A. Department of Water and Power (DWP) deliver food to the elderly. Employees in the sanitation department and Parks and Rec. help build and staff shelters needed for COVID-19.
Mayor Garcetti dissected the fiscal vision that COVID-19 altered in Los Angeles. 70 million dollars was approved to be borrowed from the city’s special and reserved funds. Some of that will be reimbursed by the federal government, but some of it will not. There are budget changes in place to plan for economic stabilization. There is less money available to remove graffiti around the city. The city government initiated a hiring freeze. The Mayor of L.A. acknowledged the weaken economic system and the poor fiscal state Los Angeles is facing, but the health and lives of Angelenos came first when the Mayor of the city was making the budget related decisions. Mayor Garcetti stated within his annual address, “The choice between saving lives and saving our economy is a false choice. The only way we can save our economy is by saving lives…”
