Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti announced Tuesday that local testing capabilities had improved to such an extent that same day or next day testing would be available for anyone in the county who was experiencing COVID-19 symptoms, with the city expected to pass 50,000 tests by the end of the day.
Garcetti said that 26 testing locations were now open to the public in the city and LA County, increasing capacity to test 9,400 people per day. These locations did not include private medical facilities and testing done in hospitals, the mayor said. Testing will be scaled up, not down, even as new cases numbers were expected to drop in the coming weeks, the mayor said.
"Effective immediately, we are offering same or next day testing to anyone with COVID symptoms," Garcetti said. "Before, we opened up recently to anybody with symptoms but still gave priority to those who are seniors or had preexisting conditions."
Garcetti added, "We now have the capacity that we don't have to have any prioritization--in other words, anybody who qualifies with symptoms can now get a test."
For more information on testing, click here.
Also, Garcetti highlighted that 360 people in the county had died due to COVID-19, saying that amounted to more deaths than homicides in an entire year for LA.
The mayor also extended relaxed parking orders until May 15, meaning street sweeping and rush hour restrictions--among others--would not be enforced. All parking restrictions, however, are not being lifted, the mayor cautioned. For more information about which parking restrictions apply to the order, click here.
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LA City Attorney Mike Feuer joined the mayor for this edition of the coronavirus evening press conference. The city is prosecuting non-essential businesses that are operating against the Safer at Home order, Feuer announced.
Gun shops and all non-essential businesses must close, the city attorney said.
After filing criminal charges against four businesses previously, the city attorney announced 10 additional criminal filings for non-essential businesses failing to comply with the mayor's order.
The city attorney's office provided the list of the 10 businesses:
1. My Smoke Shop at 22876 W. Ventura Blvd.
Defendant 1: Avetik Grigoryan
Defendant 2: Makaros Makarosyan
2. Studio City Smoke Shop at 11046 Ventura Blvd.
Defendant: Arthur Papazyan
3. Lincoln Tobacco at 608 Lincoln Blvd.
Defendant: Tami Aboud aka Tami Abdumasi Rezkalla
4. Mike's Smoke Shop at 12038 Burbank Blvd.
Defendant: Grachiya Baltayan aka Mike Baltayan
5. Drip N Vape at 23706 Victory Blvd.
Defendant 1: Tarik Dugam
Defendant 2: Jake Kail
6. Bellagio Express Car Wash 6344 Sepulveda Blvd
Defendant 1: Farzad, Nourollah
Defendant 2: Bellagio Express Car Wash
Defendant 3: Michael Eric Solano
7. Spa Castle Massage 19644 Sherman Way
Defendant: Hungsia Yang
8. Henney’s Printing, 4166 Verdugo Road
Defendant 1:Luis Pena
Defendant 2: Henney’s Printing
9. Vantage Green Professional Auto Detailing, 2700 N. Eastern Ave.
Defendant: Carlos Valdez
10. Discount Beauty Supply, 8600 South Hoover
Defendant: Joyce Choi
"The sooner we achieve maximum compliance from businesses and residents alike--the sooner all Angelenos can get back to work and resume our normal routines," Feuer said in a statement announcing the filings.
Feuer also said his office is targeting online sales of at-home tests for the virus, as the Food and Drug Administration has not approved any at-home tests. False positives or false negatives could cause harm to households and the community, he said.
Additionally, the city attorney's office was pursuing fake cures, false advertising and price hikes related to the virus. Feuer said his office was actively searching the internet to identify businesses not complying with the order.
