area newsletter APRIL 2020 • THE VALLEY
20 20
Community News Roadmap to reopening state laid out – but no return to normal
between people. Schools will have to establish new
As officials weigh lifting or relaxing stay-at-home
stay-at-home order went into effect March 19.
restrictions for recess and physical education classes. As well, public officials will need to ensure recreational areas are frequently and thoroughly disinfected. California’s
hospitalizations have
Silenced neighborhoods cheer on healthcare workers
flattened or declined
Those aren’t coyotes howling at the moon. Locked-
for at least two weeks,
down Los Angeles residents are opening their windows
six conditions must
and balconies every night to whoop, holler and applaud
be met for the stay-at-
the healthcare workers combating the COVID-19
home order to be eased. The state must be able to:
pandemic. Each night at 8 p.m. – in neighborhoods
orders, Gov. Gavin Newsom is offering a framework for resuscitating California’s comatose economy. Once coronavirus-related
1) Increase testing capacity to detect and isolate people infected by COVID-19. 2) Protect seniors and other vulnerable groups such as people with underlying health conditions. 3) Ensure resources for healthcare workers, including protective equipment. 4) Pursue treatments with scientists and health experts. 5) Ensure businesses and schools enforce physical distancing after they reopen. 6) Draft new enforcement strategies in case stay-athome orders need to be reinstated. Newsom has stressed that even when the economy is reopened, it will not mark a return to normalcy. Instead, restaurants may require staff to wear masks and gloves, patrons may need to have their temperature checked before they are seated, and the number of tables will be dramatically reduced to increase the physical space
across Los Angeles as well as the county – people are participating in a ritual that has spread around the world wherever the virus has struck. First, it was the residents of Wuhan, China, singing and clapping every night, then Italians and then New Yorkers. Now the practice is recognized as not only as a salute to medical professionals but as an emotional release for a society shut off from itself. In downtown Los Angeles, the Downtown Los Angeles Neighborhood Council has encouraged residents to howl into the night throughout April. “I never believed it would take off like this,” council president Patti Berman told the AP.
Small businesses critical to L.A. County’s economy Los Angeles County is among the California counties most reliant on small businesses, a study by a New York consulting company has found. SmartAsset ranked L.A. County fourth in the state based on its economic
Community News dependence on small businesses, the San Fernando Valley Business Journal reported. With small businesses suffering during the pandemic, this study can identify which areas are being hit hardest by the shutdown. To determine how counties ranked across California, the study took the number of people who reported small business income and compared it to the
quality technology company that monitors pollution. Some experts speculate the air hasn’t been this pristine in Southern California since the 1940s.
ranked No. 18 with 25 percent of its residents reporting
Walk signals automated to prevent spread of coronavirus
small business income.
Walk signals in Burbank are doing more than just
Air cleanest in decades during shutdown
letting pedestrians know when to cross the street
The worst public health crisis in decades has led
COVID-19 pandemic,
overall population. Twenty-nine percent of L.A. County residents reported small business income – behind Marin, Nevada and Mono Counties. Ventura County
to the cleanest air in a generation. According to the March 2020 air quality index compiled by the Environmental Protection Agency, the air in Los Angeles during the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent economic shutdown hasn’t been this “good” since 1980, the earliest year such data is available. March had 24 days with a daily air quality score below 50, indicating air that’s healthy even for people with respiratory problems. March 2019 had 14 days that good by comparison — and that was the cleanest the air had been in more than a decade. In April, L.A. had some of the cleanest air of any major city on the planet, according to IQAir, a Swiss air
– they are being automated to keep them apart. Responding to the the City of Burbank is automating its walk signals so that people no longer need to push the button at interactions. The move, which is in effect daily from 6:30 a.m. to 10 p.m., is intended to reduce transmission of the virus, which has been found can live up to two or three days on some surfaces. After the crisis subsides, the walk signals will be returned to normal. Until now, only intersections in the downtown had automated signals.
Spotlight
THE NEW NORMAL AND WHAT’S NEXT Like all viruses, the coronavirus is evolving. But so are we. How close we stand to each other. How often we wash our hands. How we react when someone coughs behind us. The question isn’t when will things return to normal, but what will normal actually look like? From how we work to where we eat to what we watch, here are some possibilities — none of them as dystopian as you might expect and a few that might even be considered upgrades.
THE OFFICE Less of a shock than a confirmation, recent events have made it clear the traditional office is all but obsolete. Thanks to email, chats and videoconferencing, people can easily work from home. Expect this transition to only accelerate after the pandemic has ended. Physical workplaces will disappear while employees become completely wired. For frontline workers, we can hope they might emerge better appreciated — and hopefully, better compensated.
COMPANIONSHIP Facetime, Skype and Zoom aren’t going anywhere, but if you want proof that humans still need actual warmblooded, in-person companionship just consider the number of people who adopted or fostered a dog, cat or other animal during the past few weeks. We are cautiously optimistic, but have you ever heard of another time when shelters everywhere were empty?
ENTERTAINMENT Whether we are watching Saturday Night Live being assembled via chat or the Rolling Stones performing from their individual homes for stuck-at-home fans, the shutdown has transformed even our concept of what entertainment looks like. The crisis has also accelerated one trend well underway: streaming sites are booming while movie theaters are empty. The question is, when the pandemic ends, will the crowds return?
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Spotlight
estau-
HEALTH CARE Some have suggested the COVID-19 pandemic could galvanize Americans to strengthen the social safety net and move toward universal health care. More realistically, healthcare technology will undergo the most lasting change. Telemedicine, which has been an after-thought for many patients, will become much more commonplace. In addition to expediting service, it will also improve care in general. Staying home for a video call keeps you out of the waiting room and away from patients who need critical care.
THE ENVIRONMENT One of the revelations of the crisis has been how quickly the planet and other species benefit with humans sidelined — whether how clear the air is in Los Angeles or how sea turtles are thriving from Thailand to Florida because beaches are closed. A pandemic should not be needed to remind people of their impact on the world. Hopefully, they don’t forget when it’s over.
EATING Even when the stay-at-home order is lifted, dining out is not going to return to prepandemic levels of social interaction. Gov. Gavin Newsom has already said servers may be masked, the number of tables will be cut in half and patrons may be prodded for their temperature. In the meantime, people may be ordering delivery, but they are also buying and preparing their own meals and perhaps discovering the simple benefits of cooking.
HOW WE TREAT OURSELVES AND OTHERS Is the handshake extinct? Whatever the long-term social repercussions of COVID-19 are, hopefully some things we have learned or relearned endure: wash your hands, wash your food, watch where you cough, stay home when you’re sick, pollute less, think about adopting or fostering an animal from your local shelter and maybe call your elderly loved ones more often.
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