On Tuesday, Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger set a goal for a “safe reopening” by July 4.
Her comments came during a meeting with the Los Angeles County Economic Resiliency Task Force on Tuesday. The Task Force serves to develop actionable recommendations for the County to improve the economy, create jobs, and return to full employment.
Today, the Economic Resiliency Task Force met for our second meeting and I set a goal to reopen L.A. County by July 4. Read more about our collaboration with sector leaders to revitalize businesses and get employees back to work: https://t.co/5p1wolwcIO pic.twitter.com/PIViqyQrku
— Supervisor Kathryn Barger (@kathrynbarger) May 19, 2020
In his presentation to the Task Force on Tuesday, Bill Allen, president of L.A. Economic Development Corportation, confirmed there have been more than 1 million unemployment claims filed in L.A. County to date.
“The County,” Barger said in a news release, “in partnership with our Task Force members and key stakeholders, is prepared to move forward with recommendations that ensure the safety and well-being of employees and customers while safeguarding public health.
“Many of the experts the County has assembled for this Task Force have been working hard to develop safe and efficient plans to revitalize their sectors as early as next month,” Supervisor Barger said. “I remain focused on working with industry leaders and health officials to safely make way for Los Angeles County to reopen by the Fourth of July.”
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The goal is to execute a full or staged reopening of retail businesses, restaurants and malls by that date. But getting there may be slow going, according to another supervisor.
Photo by Richard Vogel/AP/Shutterstock
“That’s a goal, but we have to get there” Supervisor Hilda Solis said later during the news conference about the July 4 reopening date. “And we have to do it by measurement, we have to do it with scientific evidence and data and making sure that everybody’s adhering to the public health order. And I can tell you, as one supervisor, I have a great deal of concern that some people aren’t listening to that message.”
“We have to do a lot of things right so we can actually get to that date,” L.A. County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said. “I think the reality is that we are going to really aim together to get there as quickly as possible, but we’re going to pay attention to the data and science.”
“I think reopening has proven to be a lot harder than we may have envisioned,” added Ferrer.
