As COVID-19 continues to surge — with Los Angeles County on Thursday registering its biggest single-day total of new cases, 4,592 — Glendale officials are urging residents to remain resilient and follow safety protocols, including wearing face coverings in public and staying home if possible.
The city is also entreating residents to maintain social distancing and limit physical contact to family members with whom they live — what the Glendale Fire Department has dubbed “keeping it family style,” said Chief Silvio Lanzas.
“If you’re going to be out in public, you should wear a face covering,” he said, emphasizing that those who are outside but not around anyone — jogging early in the morning, for example — should have a face covering with them and be ready to put it on should they cross paths with another person.
“We are really trying to focus efforts on the educational piece — when our team is out in the community we constantly remind people to put their mask on and to wear it properly, put it up over the nose,” Lanzas said.
Though Lanzas said he is aware there is some resistance among community residents to wearing masks, officials are trying hard to praise those who are doing a good job of following safety protocols to curb the spread of the coronavirus.
Combative discussion has been rife on local social media in past weeks regarding the use of face coverings and other safety procedures, including a Facebook group dedicated to residents who advocate against the use of masks. Though he hasn’t discussed these groups with other city officials, Lanzas noted that there will always be naysayers.
“There will always be people who don’t follow the rules, who don’t stop at stop signs or watch the speed limits, and unfortunately there will be those people who think this is not real and it can’t happen to them,” said Lanzas, and referred to the news report of a young man in Texas who attended a COVID-19 party and then contracted the illness and died. “His last words were ‘This is real, don’t do it.’”
In accordance with Gov. Gavin Newsom’s recent retightening of businesses allowed to open, the city has ordered the closure of all dine-in restaurants, wineries and tasting rooms, movie theaters, family entertainment centers, zoos and museums, and card rooms. Additionally, businesses or activities that are required to shut down unless they can be modified to operate outdoors or by pickup include fitness centers, worship services, protests, offices for nonessential sectors, personal care services — such as nail salons, body waxing and tattoo parlors, hair salons and barbershops — and malls.
The Americana at Brand, meanwhile, will remain open, as will the businesses there that can comply with health protocols. Earlier this week, the outdoor mall tweeted: “We’re open! #Americana is not required to close under the Governor’s new mandates. … Standards are in place so together we can all safely enjoy the sunshine and fresh air all summer.”
As of the News-Press’ deadline on Friday, there have been 1,880 confirmed cases (up 14.77% from last week) of COVID-19 reported among Glendale residents, with 122 deaths. There were no new deaths registered as of Thursday morning, but deaths have risen by 5.67% compared to the same period a week ago, according to information posted on the city of Glendale’s daily COVID-19 data summary. Countywide, meanwhile, there were 4,459 new cases reported, up 18.2% from a week ago, totaling 147,468 cases. There were 56 new deaths reported, up 8.1% compared to the same period a week ago, lifting the total countywide death toll to 3,989.
COVID-19 in Glendale*
1,880 Confirmed Cases
122 Deaths
*as of press time on Friday
Source: dashboard.publichealth.lacounty.gov/covid19_surveillance_dashboard/
