latimes--2020-04-28--Some California businesses could reopen within weeks as state fights coronavirus, Newsom says

California businesses seen as presenting less risk of spreading the coronavirus could open in the near future under a plan Gov .
Gavin Newsom unveiled Tuesday , the first of what he suggested were several slow steps toward easing the statewide shutdown order .
“ We believe we are weeks , not months , away from making meaningful modifications ” in the current restrictions , Newsom said .
But Newsom ’ s announcement of a four-phase plan did not come with a guaranteed timetable .
He said while current public health indicators such as hospitalizations and testing capacity look promising @ @ @ @ @ @ @ toward slowing the spread of the virus .
“ Politics will not drive our decision-making .
Protests won ’ t drive our decision-making .
Political pressure will not drive our decision- making , ” he said .
The plan he presented Tuesday envisions four distinct phases for ending the shutdown , each with several subjective components reflecting that uncertainty .
The governor said the state is currently in the first phase , marked by ongoing efforts to provide a financial safety net for low-wage earners who might otherwise work when sick and encouraging @ @ @ @ @ @ @ when in places where they can not practice safe physical distancing .
The second phase , he said , would allow select businesses to reopen in communities across California .
Those would be deemed “ lower risk ” and include more curbside options for retail locations , manufacturing sites and small businesses with few in-person customers .
The change also would loosen limits on access to public spaces , probably including some parks .
In a lengthy online presentation of the new plan , Newsom said he recognized the economic pain from the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ no way to set a a date for loosening that directive .
“ We need to protect not just the business community but customers of those businesses .
It ’ s one thing to open a business .
But if there ’ s no demand , it ’ s a false promise , ” he said .
Newsom ’ s second phase , notably , might include a plan for allowing some K-12 schools to either offer summer programs or consider an earlier start to the new academic year in order to make @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
It also would allow more child-care facilities to resume operations .
The guidelines would require businesses seeking to reopen to keep as many people as possible working from home .
And it envisions that employers must be able to ensure that they have established safe workplace conditions .
But the proposal does not offer information on who enforces the rules or how enforcement will take place .
The statewide order issued by the governor last month has largely relied on local government officials to ensure compliance .
Key to the change would @ @ @ @ @ @ @ skilled nursing facilities and “ congregate ” settings , including jails and prisons .
The plan requires that officials in the state ’ s 58 counties have the ability to perform robust contact tracing to ensure they can track potential spread of the coronavirus .
Graham Knaus , executive director of the California Assn .
of Counties , said that work requires adequate funding .
“ If county public health departments lack funding to access testing or coordinate trained workers , it will be nearly impossible to meet key indicators to reopen California @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as restrictions are lifted , ” he said .
The governor ’ s embrace of a more methodical plan for easing the stay-at-home mandate comes amid mounting pressure from some local officials to reopen the state sooner rather than later .
Those pleas for a more specific timetable , plus images of Californians flocking to the beaches over the weekend , stand in contrast to reports that some areas — most notably , Los Angeles County — are still struggling to get a handle on the public health crisis .
Newsom acknowledged the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that not all regions of the state would be allowed to loosen the shutdown rules at the same time .
Two additional phases are envisioned in his new plan , including reopening hair salons and personal care businesses and eventually allowing large gatherings such as sporting events .
But no certainty was provided that those phases could arrive anytime soon .
Rob Lapsley , president of the California Business Roundtable , said employers need a more detailed list of the kinds of companies that can reopen in each phase .
He said business @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with the lack of details about what lies ahead .
“ The governor started talking about the economy today , but we really didn ’ t learn all that much , ” Lapsley said .
“ Other states are way ahead of us in terms of having much more detailed plans.
” He also questioned why the governor isn ’ t taking an aggressive approach to protect people 65 and older while allowing others to return to work more quickly .
“ We have to ensure that we protect the public health and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ time , ” he said .
“ We need to be on a more detailed path for that.
” Newsom ’ s announcement comes after several governors across the country said they plan to ease stay-at-home orders in the days and weeks ahead .
Newsom , meanwhile , has sought to link California ’ s approach to a less restrictive policy to those crafted by governors in neighboring states .
This month , he and his counterparts in Washington and Oregon announced “ a regional pact to recovery ” from the coronavirus crisis @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a plan to lift restrictions on daily life and reopen economies along the West Coast .
Nevada and Colorado on Monday announced they would join the regional pact .
Still , local officials across California have barraged Newsom with requests to go their own way .
On Monday , a bipartisan group of California lawmakers , mayors and other elected officials from six counties asked to ease the restrictions and start the process of reopening their economies .
“ We believe that the local public health data , in addition to our area @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , should allow our counties to soon begin a science-based , thoughtful reopening of our economy , consistent with national guidelines , which would allow our residents to get back to work , ” the letter to Newsom stated .
Last week , San Luis Obispo County officials said they have bent the coronavirus curve and were beginning to craft their own phased approach to allow some businesses to reopen .
That request came just days after Ventura County officials modified a stay-at-home order to permit some businesses to reopen and some gatherings @ @ @ @ @ @ @ focused on a message of patience .
He said Tuesday that long-standing indicators on virus spread and healthcare preparations are key to what happens next .
“ It guides our decision-making and allows us to make determinations , ” he said of the indicators .
“ Dates don ’ t .
But data does .
”

California businesses seen as presenting less risk of spreading the coronavirus could open in the near future under a plan Gov. Gavin Newsom unveiled Tuesday, the first of what he suggested were several slow steps toward easing the statewide shutdown order.
“We believe we are weeks, not months, away from making meaningful modifications” in the current restrictions, Newsom said.
But Newsom’s announcement of a four-phase plan did not come with a guaranteed timetable. He said while current public health indicators such as hospitalizations and testing capacity look promising, additional progress needs to be made toward slowing the spread of the virus.
“Politics will not drive our decision-making. Protests won’t drive our decision-making. Political pressure will not drive our decision- making,” he said.
The plan he presented Tuesday envisions four distinct phases for ending the shutdown, each with several subjective components reflecting that uncertainty. The governor said the state is currently in the first phase, marked by ongoing efforts to provide a financial safety net for low-wage earners who might otherwise work when sick and encouraging the use of face coverings by residents when in places where they cannot practice safe physical distancing.
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1 / 83 Socially distanced bikers and walkers, against a backdrop of the Queen Mary, make their way along pedestrian and beach bike path on the first day that Long Beach reopened the path on Monday May 11, 2020. The city of Long Beach eased a few of its public health restrictions, allowing under certain guidelines the reopening of pedestrian and beach bike paths, tennis centers and courts. Beach bathrooms are also reopening, but the parking lots and beaches still remain closed. (Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times) 2 / 83 Traffic remains light on the southbound 110 Freeway headed toward downtown Los Angeles on April 28. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 3 / 83 Dominique Barrett, center, known as “King Vader” to his 2.4 million TikTok followers, prepares to shoot a video on April 30 in Glendora. (Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times) 4 / 83 Cody Purcell of Redondo Beach rides a wave, glowing from the bioluminescence, in Hermosa Beach, CA, after midnight Friday morning, May 8. (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times) 5 / 83 Friends play spikeball, a game perfect for social distancing on an open but restricted San Buenaventura State Beach. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) 6 / 83 The majority of golfers are wearing masks while hitting balls on the driving range at Van Buren Executive Golf Course in Riverside. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times) 7 / 83 Beaches including Harbor Cove Beach were open but beachgoers were not supposed to be sitting on the sand. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) 8 / 83 Tango instructor Yelizaveta Nersesova leads a Zoom tango event from her Los Angeles home April 27 that brought together hundreds of dancers from around the world. (Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times) 9 / 83 Grocery store workers, joined by United Food and Commercial Workers International Union Local 770 representatives and community members, hold a rally in support of strict social distancing on May 1 at a Ralphs store in Hollywood where 19 employees have tested positive for COVID-19. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times) 10 / 83 Mostly masked commuters keep their distance from one another on a Metro bus in downtown Los Angeles on April 29. (Gabriella Angotti-Jones / Los Angeles Times) 11 / 83 Gregory Kuhl, 69, heads home after a shopping trip in Hollywood on April 28. Big cracks in the street, cars parked in driveways blocking sidewalks and uneven pavement levels make navigating his route difficult. (Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times) 12 / 83 Tenants and their supporters from across Los Angeles gather at city hall to call on L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti, the L.A. City Council and California Gov. Gavin Newsom to cancel rent and mortgage payments during the COVID-19 crisis. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times) 13 / 83 Aerial view of over 100 vehicles lined up at the West Valley COVID-19 testing center at Warner Center in Woodland Hills. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) 14 / 83 Senior Mason Wise, left, helps his sister, Mackenzie, a sophomore, clean out her PE locker at El Camino Real Charter High School in Woodland Hills. School officials were allowing no more than five students at a time on campus to take home their belongings. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) 15 / 83 Shuttered storefront businesses in the garment district of Los Angeles. California’s unemployment rate has skyrocketed since the statewide coronavirus shutdown took effect. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times) 16 / 83 Healthcare workers celebrate as Claudia Martinez is discharged from the ICU after she recovered from COVID-19 at Scripps Mercy Hospital in Chula Vista. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 17 / 83 Carson residents Kaeli Burks, 3, left, and her cousin Bailey Watson, 5, look out the window of their car after their mothers helped them with self-testing at a new drive-up testing site for COVID-19 in Carson. Free COVID-19 testing is available to all city residents thanks to a partnership between the city and US Health Fairs. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times) 18 / 83 Norm and Tracy Kahn enjoy eating dinner outside on a small cafe table sitting in blue chairs on their side yard during the coronavirus pandemic on April 27 in Riverside. “During this pandemic, eating outside offers us an opportunity to change surrounding and appreciate the calmness of being outdoors among trees, scents from nature and the sounds of birds,” she said. Also adding, “Mixing up where we eat puts variety into our days and takes away the sameness of feeling trapped at home.” (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times) 19 / 83 Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center nurses carry supplies outside the hospital. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 20 / 83 Tom Sean Foley pauses on a walk with his kids, Cathelen Claire, “C.C.,” 3, and Timothy Joseph, 4, to take a photo in front of the “Love Wall,” mural by artist Curtis Kulig, outside of Smashbox Studios in Culver City. (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times) 21 / 83 Protesters stand along Mission Blvd. in Pacific Beach during A Day of Liberty rally on April 26. The protesters were against the government shutdown due to the coronavirus. (K.C. Alfred / San Diego Union-Tribune) 22 / 83 People make orders at a food truck along Shoreline Avenue in Long Beach. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times) 23 / 83 Medical staff, wearing protective gear, work inside a COVID-19 isolation area inside the emergency department at Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center in Los Angeles, where patients with the virus are being treated. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times) 24 / 83 Neighbors practice social distancing while enjoying the nice weather near The Strand in Hermosa Beach. (Gabriella Angotti-Jones / Los Angeles Times) 25 / 83 Counter-protesters attend a protest to call on state and local officials to reopen the economy in downtown Los Angeles. (Christina House / Los Angeles Times) 26 / 83 A group of protesters cheer on cars during a vehicle caravan protest to call on state and local officials to reopen the economy in downtown Los Angeles. (Christina House / Los Angeles Times) 27 / 83 Cedar Mountain Post Acute Rehabilitation staff member Navi Cavaltera waters a flower pot put up by the community to show their support for the nursing staff of the facility in Yucaipa. Eighteen of 20 coronavirus-related deaths in Yucaipa were residents of the skilled nursing facility. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times) 28 / 83 A pedestrian wearing a protective mask passes a mural on a store on Melrose Avenue in the Fairfax district of Los Angeles. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times) 29 / 83 Jonte Florence, a freestyle dancer, does a handstand on a mostly empty Hollywood Walk of Fame. Florence said he normally performs for hundreds of tourists along the busy street. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times) 30 / 83 The Tyrannosaurus rex overlooking the intersection of Hollywood Boulevard and Highland Avenue wears a protective mask while practicing social distancing. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times) 31 / 83 Businesses are shuttered and pedestrians are few and far between on Hollywood Boulevard. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times) 32 / 83 Daniel Rogerson wears a vintage military gas mask while riding a bike along the beach path in Santa Monica, which is closed to enforce social distancing because of the coronavirus pandemic. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times) 33 / 83 A face mask seller in colorful dress appears to be part of a mural behind a bus stop on Soto Street in Los Angeles. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times) 34 / 83 Life around Cesar E. Chavez Boulevard and Soto Street has slowed down as California officials extended stay-at-home orders into May and residents entered Easter weekend with unprecedented limits on their movements. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times) 35 / 83 UC Irvine Medical Center health care workers return their gratitude as about 25 Orange County first responder vehicles participate in a drive-by parade of gratitude as they battle COVID-19 at the hospital. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times) 36 / 83 Billy Budd, 55, of Hollywood, walks along Hollywood Boulevard with a protective face covering. Budd is a scenic artist for movies and television who is currently out of work due to the coronavirus outbreak. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times) 37 / 83 Stuart Reyes and his sister, Stephanie, sell masks for $5 each on the 3000 block of West Century Boulevard in Inglewood. Stuart Reyes said he is selling masks to support his mother. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times) 38 / 83 A jogger runs on a closed trail past dozens of pieces of caution tape, torn off by hikers and mountain bikers at El Escorpion Canyon Park in West Hills. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) 39 / 83 Alex Herron and nurse Mercy Pineda at a blood drive sponsored by USC athletics and the American Red Cross at USC’s Galen Center. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times) 40 / 83 Los Angeles City Hall displays blue lights to show support for healthcare workers and first responders. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times) 41 / 83 After being indoors for several days because of rainy weather and coronavirus stay-at-home orders, Olivia Jacobs, 4, and her mom, Cia Jacobs, enjoy a warm and sunny afternoon making chalk drawings on the sidewalk in front of their home in West Hills. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) 42 / 83 An Oceanview Plaza security guard sports a whimsical mask while on patrol. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 43 / 83 Jacob De Wilde, left, and Lesli Lytle load a car with food during a food distribution organized to mark Good Friday. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times) 44 / 83 As a late season storm continues to make its way across the Southland, a young basketball player dribbles along an alley through an Elysian Park neighborhood in Los Angeles. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times) 45 / 83 People are silhouetted in a window of an apartment building in Hollywood, where a stay-at-home order remains in effect to help curb the spread of the coronavirus. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times) 46 / 83 The Wilshire Grand Center display blue lights and a heart to show support for healthcare workers and first responders. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times) 47 / 83 Women wear masks as they stroll along Highland Avenue in Hollywood. Wearing masks while outdoors is mandatory in the city of Los Angeles. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times) 48 / 83 Patients are removed from Magnolia Rehabilitation and Nursing Center after 39 tested positive for the coronavirus and nursing staff was not showing up to work. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times) 49 / 83 A specimen is turned in at the new mobile testing site for people with symptoms of the coronavirus at Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science in South Los Angeles. (Christina House / Los Angeles Times) 50 / 83 Hippie Kitchen in Los Angeles hands out food, water and toiletries to homeless people and residents of skid row. Additionally, masks were offered to help reduce the spread of the coronavirus. (Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times) 51 / 83 Nurses pose for a fun photo during a break in drive-through public testing for the coronavirus at Arrowhead Regional Medical Center in Colton. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times) 52 / 83 A woman shows a notice from her doctor that allows her to obtain a test for coronavirus at a new drive-up testing site in a parking lot at the South Bay Galleria in Redondo Beach. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times) 53 / 83 A person who wishes to remain anonymous strikes from her car to support McDonald’s employees who are demanding the company cover healthcare costs of any worker or immediate family member who gets sick from COVID-19 in Los Angeles. (Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times) 54 / 83 Cassidy Roosen, with Beach Cities Health District, holds up a sign that says, “We’re All in This Together,” while waiting to direct cars at a drive-through, appointment-only coronavirus testing location at the South Bay Galleria in Redondo Beach. (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times) 55 / 83 Juliann Hartman, center, and her husband, Butch, wave signs they created to cheer up people on Calabasas Road in Calabasas during the pandemic. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times) 56 / 83 Grace Carter, 15, of Riverside, practices a dance routine at home after dance classes and school were canceled. She has to use the Zoom app on her iPhone to practice with her dance group. “It’s hard,” she said. “My bedroom is a smaller space. I miss all my friends at the studio.” (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times) 57 / 83 A man works from his home in Long Beach. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 58 / 83 A San Bernardino County healthcare worker takes a sample at a coronavirus drive-through testing site at the county fairgrounds in Victorville. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times) 59 / 83 A Metro general service employee disinfects a bench in Boyle Heights. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times) 60 / 83 A runner jogs past the Pottery Barn in Pasadena. Some businesses in the area have boarded up their stores. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 61 / 83 Raquel Lezama and daughter Monica Ramos collect meals for their family at Manual Arts High School. Lezama was laid off from her $17.76-an-hour job at a Beverly Hills hotel. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 62 / 83 The Iron City Tavern in San Pedro tries an incentive to lure takeout customers. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) 63 / 83 Healthcare workers gather outside UCLA Ronald Reagan Medical Center to call for further action from the federal government in response to the COVID-19 outbreak. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 64 / 83 Kristen Edgerle, of Victorville, collects information from a blood donor before drawing blood at The Richard Nixon Presidential Library blood drive during the coronavirus pandemic in Yorba Linda. (Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times) 65 / 83 Shauna Jin, of Los Angeles, with her dog, Bodhi, practices social distancing with John Kiss, of Los Angeles, at the entrance of Runyon Canyon Park in Los Angeles. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times) 66 / 83 A lending library had some additional useful items, including a roll of toilet paper and cans of beans and corn, in a Hermosa Beach neighborhood. (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times) 67 / 83 Protesters drive by the Getty House, the home of L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti, in Hancock Park. Tenant advocates are demanding a total moratorium on evictions during the coronavirus crisis. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times) 68 / 83 Venice residents Emily Berry and Gavin Kelley take a break at Venice Beach. Berry, a cocktail waitress at Enterprise Fish Co., lost her job due to the coronavirus outbreak. Kelley, a manager at a performing arts school with a focus on music, said that he still has a job and that classes at the school will resume online this coming Monday. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times) 69 / 83 The JW Marriott at L.A. Live is sharing a message of hope with red lights in 34 windows, creating a 19-story display on the hotel’s north side. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times) 70 / 83 Juan Diaz Jr., a lifelong Dodgers fan, prays that the season will start by May in front of Dodger Stadium on what would have been opening day. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times) 71 / 83 Hayley, CEO and founder of Love My Neighbor Foundation, right, dances with Crystal Armster, 51, while she and her colleagues continue to feed the homeless on skid row amid the pandemic. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times) 72 / 83 A masked passenger on a Metro bus in downtown Los Angeles. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times) 73 / 83 Dede Oneal waits for a coronavirus test at the Crenshaw Christian Center in South Los Angeles. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times) 74 / 83 A man in a mask passes a closed restaurant along Spring Street in downtown Los Angeles. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times) 75 / 83 Artist Corie Mattie paints a mural on the side of a pop-up store as a man takes a picture in West Hollywood. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times) 76 / 83 Medical assistant Zoila Villalta works with Rosie Boston, 32, of Glendale, who is donating blood for her first time at L.A. Care Health Plan downtown. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 77 / 83 A couple wait for a bus outside the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times) 78 / 83 With all Los Angeles schools closed until further notice, LAUSD buses sit idle in Gardena. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) 79 / 83 A lone traveler makes his way to catch a flight in Tom Bradley International Terminal. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times) 80 / 83 Denise Young looks on as her daughter, Allison, 9, a fourth-grader at EARThS (Environmental Academy of Research Technology and Earth Sciences) Magnet School in Newbury Park, receives a Chromebook. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times) 81 / 83 Hollywood Boulevard is devoid of the usual crowds. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) 82 / 83 Michael Ray, 11, plays before a movie at the Paramount Drive-In. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times) 83 / 83 Isabella Leader, 15, counts how many flags have been left for World War II veteran Lt. Col. Sam Sachs who was celebrating his 105th birthday at the Mom & Dad’s House, an assisted living facility, in Lakewood. Lt. Col. Sachs appealed to the public for birthday cards after the coronavirus pandemic forced the cancellation of a big celebration and wound up receiving thousands, including a letter and photo from President Trump. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
The second phase, he said, would allow select businesses to reopen in communities across California. Those would be deemed “lower risk” and include more curbside options for retail locations, manufacturing sites and small businesses with few in-person customers. The change also would loosen limits on access to public spaces, probably including some parks.
In a lengthy online presentation of the new plan, Newsom said he recognized the economic pain from the stay-at-home order but insisted there was still no way to set a a date for loosening that directive.
“We need to protect not just the business community but customers of those businesses. It’s one thing to open a business. But if there’s no demand, it’s a false promise,” he said.
Newsom’s second phase, notably, might include a plan for allowing some K-12 schools to either offer summer programs or consider an earlier start to the new academic year in order to make up some of the lost educational opportunities. It also would allow more child-care facilities to resume operations.
The guidelines would require businesses seeking to reopen to keep as many people as possible working from home. And it envisions that employers must be able to ensure that they have established safe workplace conditions.
But the proposal does not offer information on who enforces the rules or how enforcement will take place. The statewide order issued by the governor last month has largely relied on local government officials to ensure compliance.
Key to the change would be adequate protections for places such as skilled nursing facilities and “congregate” settings, including jails and prisons. The plan requires that officials in the state’s 58 counties have the ability to perform robust contact tracing to ensure they can track potential spread of the coronavirus.
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Graham Knaus, executive director of the California Assn. of Counties, said that work requires adequate funding. “If county public health departments lack funding to access testing or coordinate trained workers, it will be nearly impossible to meet key indicators to reopen California, much less track and isolate cases as restrictions are lifted,” he said.
The governor’s embrace of a more methodical plan for easing the stay-at-home mandate comes amid mounting pressure from some local officials to reopen the state sooner rather than later. Those pleas for a more specific timetable, plus images of Californians flocking to the beaches over the weekend, stand in contrast to reports that some areas — most notably, Los Angeles County — are still struggling to get a handle on the public health crisis.
Newsom acknowledged the balancing act that lies ahead, insisting that not all regions of the state would be allowed to loosen the shutdown rules at the same time. Two additional phases are envisioned in his new plan, including reopening hair salons and personal care businesses and eventually allowing large gatherings such as sporting events. But no certainty was provided that those phases could arrive anytime soon.
Rob Lapsley, president of the California Business Roundtable, said employers need a more detailed list of the kinds of companies that can reopen in each phase. He said business owners may be disappointed, too, with the lack of details about what lies ahead.
“The governor started talking about the economy today, but we really didn’t learn all that much,” Lapsley said. “Other states are way ahead of us in terms of having much more detailed plans.”
He also questioned why the governor isn’t taking an aggressive approach to protect people 65 and older while allowing others to return to work more quickly. “We have to ensure that we protect the public health and protect the financial well-being at the same time,” he said. “We need to be on a more detailed path for that.”
Newsom’s announcement comes after several governors across the country said they plan to ease stay-at-home orders in the days and weeks ahead. Newsom, meanwhile, has sought to link California’s approach to a less restrictive policy to those crafted by governors in neighboring states. This month, he and his counterparts in Washington and Oregon announced “a regional pact to recovery” from the coronavirus crisis and agreed to work together to develop a plan to lift restrictions on daily life and reopen economies along the West Coast. Nevada and Colorado on Monday announced they would join the regional pact.
Still, local officials across California have barraged Newsom with requests to go their own way. On Monday, a bipartisan group of California lawmakers, mayors and other elected officials from six counties asked to ease the restrictions and start the process of reopening their economies.
“We believe that the local public health data, in addition to our area’s ability to continue monitoring cases, should allow our counties to soon begin a science-based, thoughtful reopening of our economy, consistent with national guidelines, which would allow our residents to get back to work,” the letter to Newsom stated.
Last week, San Luis Obispo County officials said they have bent the coronavirus curve and were beginning to craft their own phased approach to allow some businesses to reopen. That request came just days after Ventura County officials modified a stay-at-home order to permit some businesses to reopen and some gatherings to take place.
Newsom has remained focused on a message of patience. He said Tuesday that long-standing indicators on virus spread and healthcare preparations are key to what happens next.
“It guides our decision-making and allows us to make determinations,” he said of the indicators. “Dates don’t. But data does.”


latimes--2020-04-28--L.A. County exceeds 1,000 coronavirus-related deaths

Los Angeles County officials on Tuesday announced 59 additional deaths linked to the coronavirus , sending the county ’ s toll past 1,000 and marking another dramatic increase in the number of daily deaths reported .
Residents in institutional settings account for 46 % of all deaths , the county said .
The majority of the 462 who died in those facilities were nursing home residents .
Public health officials also reported 597 new cases of the virus , bringing the number of people who have been infected in the county to nearly 21,000 .
Of those , 4,507 have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ than 133,000 of L.A. County ’ s 10 million residents have been tested for the virus .
The news comes 40 days after California issued its stay-at-home order .
When the mandate was implemented March 19 in an effort to stem the spread of the coronavirus , most counties went beyond the state ’ s guidelines to impose more stringent policies , each with varying expiration dates .
Some counties , like San Francisco , took measures well before the governor shuttered all nonessential businesses and mandated that all Californians should stay home @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , several places have begun to ease local restrictions .
Golf courses and beaches have reopened in some areas .
Other areas are petitioning the governor to be allowed to open restaurants and places of worship Many have argued their regions have already flattened the curve in the fight against the coronavirus and that the shuttered economy is hurting them financially .
L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti announced Tuesday a deal with mask manufacturer Honeywell to procure 24 million N95 masks — at cost — to distribute to first responders and hospitals in need @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in May , 500,000 more in July and 1.2 million per month by November , Garcetti said .
“ These will be life savers , quite literally , ” Garcetti said .
The announcement comes as hospitals grapple with a nationwide shortage of protective gear and a rise in price-gouging and counterfeit masks .
Officials said L.A. County alone burns through 5 million masks a month .
Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva announced an initiative Monday to decontaminate N95 masks that will allow first responders and healthcare workers countywide to safely reuse @ @ @ @ @ @ @ battle the coronavirus .
All the while , the number of COVID-19 cases — and deaths — continue to climb in the state .
There have been more than 46,000 infections and over 1,800 deaths in California .
The state for the first time earlier this week reported that nearly 40 % of deaths have occurred at skilled nursing facilities and assisted living facilities .
As of April 28 , 578 residents of nursing homes had died .
As of April 25 , 144 deaths had occurred in assisted living facilites .
Additionally @ @ @ @ @ @ @ after contracting the virus in a nursing home setting .
The state has refused a request to identify where the deaths occurred .
Also , the newly released data is incomplete , a Los Angeles Times analysis found , missing multiple facilities with known outbreaks and not including facilities with six or fewer beds , of which there are hundreds .
Mike Dark , staff attorney at California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform , a San Francisco-based nonprofit that advocates for people in long-term care , said during a town hall Tuesday that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
While Gov .
Gavin Newsom on Tuesday said there were outbreaks in 192 of 1,224 skilled nursing facilities in the state , Dark said he believes , “ the virus is widespread in California facilities.
” The data also only includes deaths known by the facility , according to a state spokeswoman .
It may not include deaths that occurred after a resident was transferred to a hospital , a private home , or other location .
Faced with the mounting toll , industry lobbyists have petitioned Newsom to protect them from @ @ @ @ @ @ @ liability would remove “ one of the last safety nets residents in these facilities have.
” Garcetti said that nearly 5,000 residents and staff of skilled nursing facilities across the city have been tested , and officials are working to test more .
On Tuesday , Newsom unveiled a four-stage plan for reopening the state .
The plan requires that all 58 counties have the ability to perform contact tracing to track the potential spread of the virus .
The first modifications of the stay-at-home order , affecting low-risk workplaces such as retail @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to roll out within weeks , Newsom said .
But it could take months before higher-risk spaces , including movie theaters , concert venues and gyms , are reopened .
“ Our stores will look different .
Offices will operate differently .
But we will be healthier , ” Newsom said of what ’ s ahead .
One notable portion of the governor ’ s plan includes the possibility that K-12 schools will be allowed to begin the academic year early to make up for lost learning over the last few months .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s most populous region — officials are also developing a plan to ease the Safer at Home order , which is set to expire May 15 .
Public Health Department director Barbara Ferrer said Tuesday there were no plans to extend the current order , but as the deadline approaches , officials will reevaluate what is best for the county .
More than 20,000 in the county of 10 million have tested positive for the virus , and nearly 950 have died .
County officials have warned the public that although social @ @ @ @ @ @ @ spread of the virus , the number of those who have been infected is likely far higher than the official count .
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors passed a motion Tuesday to establish an action plan to work with local businesses , labor partners and community leaders to lift restrictions .
Supervisor Janice Hahn , echoing an earlier statement by Newsom , said gradually lifting restrictions would not be like flipping a switch : “ It ’ s more like a dimmer.
” “ I would caution everyone from thinking that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ or we ’ re nearing the end of this unprecedented tragedy , ” Hahn said .
“ This is not going to just go away .
Coronavirus is going to be around forever , and without a vaccine to prevent us from getting the virus or a therapeutic drug to treat you , we need to really be cautious in how we reopen our society.
” The framework , co-authored by Supervisors Kathryn Barger and Hilda Solis , lays out a set of priorities : • Reopening of the economy through an economic @ @ @ @ @ @ @ concerning how they function , including using continued telecommuting services • Resurgence of the economy through a doubling of L.A. County Works initiative “ This is a dark time for everyone , ” Hahn said .
“ I don ’ t think we should be persuaded by petitions or people pressuring us to reopen too soon.
” In six San Francisco Bay Area counties , stay-at-home orders have been extended through the end of May , with some restrictions expected to be lifted before then .
Meanwhile in El Dorado County , where @ @ @ @ @ @ @ have been confirmed and zero deaths have been reported , the public health officer is allowing the county ’ s stay-at-home directive to expire Thursday , its original expiration date .
Lifting local restrictions are allowed as long as they don ’ t undermine the state ’ s guidelines , Newsom has said .

Colleen Shalby, Anita Chabria, Alene Tchekmedyian

Los Angeles County officials on Tuesday announced 59 additional deaths linked to the coronavirus, sending the county’s toll past 1,000 and marking another dramatic increase in the number of daily deaths reported.
Residents in institutional settings account for 46% of all deaths, the county said. The majority of the 462 who died in those facilities were nursing home residents.
Public health officials also reported 597 new cases of the virus, bringing the number of people who have been infected in the county to nearly 21,000. Of those, 4,507 have been hospitalized at some point.
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1 / 37 Drive-through COVID-19 testing in Boyle Heights. Experts say widespread testing is crucial for states to be able to safely reopen their economies. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) 2 / 37 Testing in Boyle Heights. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) 3 / 37 A testing sample is sealed. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) 4 / 37 Putting on personal protective equipment before testing. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) 5 / 37 Testing in Boyle Heights. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) 6 / 37 A patient is screened before testing. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) 7 / 37 Information is collected from a patient. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) 8 / 37 Boyle Heights COVID-19 testing. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) 9 / 37 Juan Infante, a certified medical assistant, takes the temperature of a patient before she gets tested. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) 10 / 37 Carson City Mayor Albert Robles does self-testing at a new drive-up testing site for COVID-19 outside of a community center in Carson. Free COVID-19 testing is available to all city residents. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times) 11 / 37 Carson residents Kaeli Burks, 3, left, and her cousin Bailey Watson, 5, look out the window of their car after their mothers helped them with self-testing at a drive-up testing site for COVID-19 in Carson. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times) 12 / 37 A Carson resident passes a sealed self-test to a health official at a drive-up testing site. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times) 13 / 37 Carson resident Melvin Smith, 64, does self-testing. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times) 14 / 37 A person drops a specimen at a COVID-19 mobile testing site in Bell. (Christina House / Los Angeles Times) 15 / 37 A person swabs their mouth at a COVID-19 mobile testing site in Bell. (Christina House / Los Angeles Times) 16 / 37 A man talks with a healthcare worker outside Kedren Community Health Center in South LA, where they are offering walk-up coronavirus testing along with other medical services. (Jason Armond/Los Angeles Times) 17 / 37 A specimen is turned in at the new mobile testing site for people with symptoms of the coronavirus at Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science in South Los Angeles. (Christina House/Los Angeles Times) 18 / 37 A portrait and quote by Martin Luther King, Jr. overlooks a new mobile testing site for people with symptoms of the coronavirus at Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science in South Los Angeles. (Christina House/Los Angeles Times) 19 / 37 Julie Montez, right, sits in her car as a nurse administers a coronavirus test at Arrowhead Regional Medical Center in Colton. (Irfan Khan/Los Angeles Times) 20 / 37 Nurses pose for a fun photo between breaks at a drive-through public testing for coronavirus at Arrowhead Regional Medical Center in Colton. (Irfan Khan/Los Angeles Times) 21 / 37 Healthcare workers tend to a driver in line at a drive-through Coronavirus (COVID-19) testing site at the Westminster Mall in Westminster. (Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times) 22 / 37 Healthcare workers tend to a driver in line at a drive-through Coronavirus testing site at the Westminster Mall in Westminster. (Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times) 23 / 37 Gessie Lurlay is working as a coronavirus screener at the Camarena Health Center in Madera. (Carolyn Cole/Los Angeles Times) 24 / 37 Francis Gon-Gibbs, of LA County Fire Department Lifeguard Division, stands at the entrance of a new mobile testing site for people with symptoms of the coronavirus at Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science in South Los Angeles. (Christina House/Los Angeles Times) 25 / 37 A man drops off his self-administered COVID-19 test in a blue bin at a drive-up test site at the Veterans Administration Parking Lot 15 outside of Jackie Robinson Stadium in Los Angeles. (Genaro Molina/Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times) 26 / 37 Workers direct drivers at a drive-up test site for COVID-19 at the Veterans Administration Parking Lot 15 outside of Jackie Robinson Stadium in Los Angeles. (Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times) 27 / 37 A man misses the blue bin while dropping off his self-administered COVID-19 test at a drive-up test site at the Veterans Administration Parking Lot 15 outside of Jackie Robinson Stadium in Los Angeles. (Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times) 28 / 37 Workers help conduct drive-thru coronavirus testing at Crenshaw Christian Center in South Los Angeles. (Jason Armond/Los Angeles Times) 29 / 37 A sign directs people to drive-thru coronavirus testing at Crenshaw Christian Center in South Los Angeles. (Jason Armond/Los Angeles Times) 30 / 37 Cassidy Roosen, with Beach Cities Health District, holds up a sign that says, “We’re All In This Together,” while waiting to direct cars at a drive-through, appointment-only coronavirus testing location, at the South Bay Galleria, in Redondo Beach. (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times) 31 / 37 A woman shows her notice from her doctor that allows her to obtain a test for COVID-19 at a new drive-up testing site in a parking lot at the South Bay Galleria in Redondo Beach. (Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times) 32 / 37 Coronavirus CO drive-thru sample collection takes place at the county fairgrounds in Victorville. (Irfan Khan/Irfan Khan/Los Angeles Times) 33 / 37 San Bernardino County health care worker takes a sample at a coronavirus drive-thru sample collection that took place at the county fairgrounds in Victorville. (Irfan Khan/Los Angeles Times) 34 / 37 Motorists, line up on Stadium Way, near Dodger Stadium, waiting to enter a parking lot and be tested for the coronavirus. (Mel Melcon/Los Angeles Times) 35 / 37 Members of the Los Angeles Fire Dept. wear protective gear while handing out kits to people to swab the inside of their mouths to test for the coronavirus, inside a parking lot on Stadium Way, near Dodger Stadium. (Mel Melcon/Los Angeles Times) 36 / 37 Riverside County medical personnel screen a car of load of four people at a coronavirus drive-though testing facility for Coachella Valley residents in the parking lot of the Southwest in Indian Wells. (Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times) 37 / 37 Aerial views cars lined up for drive-through coronavirus testing inside a parking lot on Stadium Way near Dodger Stadium. (Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)
More than 133,000 of L.A. County’s 10 million residents have been tested for the virus.
The news comes 40 days after California issued its stay-at-home order. When the mandate was implemented March 19 in an effort to stem the spread of the coronavirus, most counties went beyond the state’s guidelines to impose more stringent policies, each with varying expiration dates.
Some counties, like San Francisco, took measures well before the governor shuttered all nonessential businesses and mandated that all Californians should stay home and restrict their social interactions.
Now, several places have begun to ease local restrictions. Golf courses and beaches have reopened in some areas. Other areas are petitioning the governor to be allowed to open restaurants and places of worship
Many have argued their regions have already flattened the curve in the fight against the coronavirus and that the shuttered economy is hurting them financially.
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L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti announced Tuesday a deal with mask manufacturer Honeywell to procure 24 million N95 masks — at cost — to distribute to first responders and hospitals in need.
The city will get 100,000 masks in May, 500,000 more in July and 1.2 million per month by November, Garcetti said.
“These will be life savers, quite literally,” Garcetti said.
The announcement comes as hospitals grapple with a nationwide shortage of protective gear and a rise in price-gouging and counterfeit masks. Officials said L.A. County alone burns through 5 million masks a month.
Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva announced an initiative Monday to decontaminate N95 masks that will allow first responders and healthcare workers countywide to safely reuse them up to 20 times as they battle the coronavirus.
All the while, the number of COVID-19 cases — and deaths — continue to climb in the state. There have been more than 46,000 infections and over 1,800 deaths in California.
Tracking the coronavirus in L.A. County The latest maps and charts on the spread of COVID-19 in Los Angeles County, including cases, deaths, closures and restrictions.
The state for the first time earlier this week reported that nearly 40% of deaths have occurred at skilled nursing facilities and assisted living facilities. As of April 28, 578 residents of nursing homes had died. As of April 25, 144 deaths had occurred in assisted living facilites. Additionally, 11 health care workers have died after contracting the virus in a nursing home setting.
The state has refused a request to identify where the deaths occurred. Also, the newly released data is incomplete, a Los Angeles Times analysis found, missing multiple facilities with known outbreaks and not including facilities with six or fewer beds, of which there are hundreds.
Mike Dark, staff attorney at California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform, a San Francisco-based nonprofit that advocates for people in long-term care, said during a town hall Tuesday that he believes the numbers represent an undercount.
While Gov. Gavin Newsom on Tuesday said there were outbreaks in 192 of 1,224 skilled nursing facilities in the state, Dark said he believes, “the virus is widespread in California facilities.”
The data also only includes deaths known by the facility, according to a state spokeswoman. It may not include deaths that occurred after a resident was transferred to a hospital, a private home, or other location.
Faced with the mounting toll, industry lobbyists have petitioned Newsom to protect them from liability.
Dark said that removal of liability would remove “one of the last safety nets residents in these facilities have.”
Garcetti said that nearly 5,000 residents and staff of skilled nursing facilities across the city have been tested, and officials are working to test more.
On Tuesday, Newsom unveiled a four-stage plan for reopening the state. The plan requires that all 58 counties have the ability to perform contact tracing to track the potential spread of the virus.
The first modifications of the stay-at-home order, affecting low-risk workplaces such as retail spaces and child-care facilities, are expected to roll out within weeks, Newsom said. But it could take months before higher-risk spaces, including movie theaters, concert venues and gyms, are reopened.
“Our stores will look different. Offices will operate differently. But we will be healthier,” Newsom said of what’s ahead.
One notable portion of the governor’s plan includes the possibility that K-12 schools will be allowed to begin the academic year early to make up for lost learning over the last few months.
In Los Angeles County — the state’s most populous region — officials are also developing a plan to ease the Safer at Home order, which is set to expire May 15. Public Health Department director Barbara Ferrer said Tuesday there were no plans to extend the current order, but as the deadline approaches, officials will reevaluate what is best for the county.
More than 20,000 in the county of 10 million have tested positive for the virus, and nearly 950 have died. County officials have warned the public that although social distancing practices have worked to slow the spread of the virus, the number of those who have been infected is likely far higher than the official count.
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors passed a motion Tuesday to establish an action plan to work with local businesses, labor partners and community leaders to lift restrictions.
Supervisor Janice Hahn, echoing an earlier statement by Newsom, said gradually lifting restrictions would not be like flipping a switch: “It’s more like a dimmer.”
“I would caution everyone from thinking that we have an end in sight, or we’re nearing the end of this unprecedented tragedy,” Hahn said. “This is not going to just go away. Coronavirus is going to be around forever, and without a vaccine to prevent us from getting the virus or a therapeutic drug to treat you, we need to really be cautious in how we reopen our society.”
The framework, co-authored by Supervisors Kathryn Barger and Hilda Solis, lays out a set of priorities:
Reopening of the economy through an economic resilience task force Recovery through a permanent 501c fund Reinvention among businesses concerning how they function, including using continued telecommuting services Resurgence of the economy through a doubling of L.A. County Works initiative Resiliency concerning educational efforts for youth
“This is a dark time for everyone,” Hahn said. “I don’t think we should be persuaded by petitions or people pressuring us to reopen too soon.”
In six San Francisco Bay Area counties, stay-at-home orders have been extended through the end of May, with some restrictions expected to be lifted before then.
Meanwhile in El Dorado County, where infections have tapered off after 43 infections have been confirmed and zero deaths have been reported, the public health officer is allowing the county’s stay-at-home directive to expire Thursday, its original expiration date.
Lifting local restrictions are allowed as long as they don’t undermine the state’s guidelines, Newsom has said.


latimes--2020-04-28--Coronavirus canceled wedding season. So what's a wedding singer to do?

Until a few weeks ago , if you got married in L.A. and hired a mariachi band , there was a good chance Susie Garcia ’ s family played you down the aisle .
The singer and bandleader has fronted her own group , the renowned all-female Mariachi Las Colibrí , for a decade and has seen generations of Mexican-American Angelenos through birthdays , baptisms , weddings and funerals .
Her husband , Pepe Martinez Jr. , leads his own band , Mariachi Ángeles , inspired by his father , the former leader of the legendary Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlán @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the two were booked to perform traditional music at cultural events and regale young couples at weddings across Southern California .
That is , until early March , when COVID-19 turned everyone ’ s future around .
“ We crossed out about 15 gigs in a week , ” Garcia said .
“ Wedding after wedding , planners were calling me devastated , like , ‘ What do we do ?
’ ” The answer , as every musician and event planner soon learned , was nothing .
Life would be on hold @ @ @ @ @ @ @ While the virus has upended touring , shuttered venues and left artists scrambling to livestream living-room concerts , there ’ s much more to the live music industry than that spotlight .
Gigging bands and DJs , the kind who perform at thousands of weddings , bat mitzvahs and private parties across L.A. , don ’ t play globally broadcast all-star fundraisers but have been decimated just the same .
Their livelihoods may come back eventually , but the loss of reliable gigs at the peak of wedding season has been sudden and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ lose a show .
They lose the backing music to the most important days of their lives .
“ Mariachi ties people to their family and values , that circle of life , ” Garcia said .
“ When that is cut off , that has such an impact.
” The wedding industry isn ’ t the first place most look to see the fallout of COVID-19 on the music business .
But it ’ s a huge sector that ’ s a clandestine livelihood for many studio and touring acts .
Around @ @ @ @ @ @ @ last year , at an average cost of $ 30,000 each , according to industry analyst firm the Wedding Report .
Costs for live music vary widely — from a single DJ on a laptop to a dozen-strong band with horns and backing vocalists — but fees can run into the thousands for even a small group .
Compared to the financial gamble and myriad uncertainties of touring original material , playing Motown classics in a hotel ballroom is usually a steady gig .
COVID-19 , unfortunately , arrived just in time to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ve survived fires and mudslides at our locations , but to have every event for maybe six months all off the table , that really pulled the rug out from under us , ” said Jesse Kivel , a musician and co-founder of Dart Collective , an L.A. event-music firm that ’ s grown into a hub for indie musicians and DJs to make money between tours .
Kivel ’ s firm hires dozens of artists and instrumentalists and had booked around 200 weddings and events for the spring high season .
Many @ @ @ @ @ @ @ COVID-19 lets up .
Jen Nordine , 28 , was set to marry Keith Kniland , 37 , in March at the Hideaway country club in the Coachella Valley , where Nordine ’ s parents had a home when she was younger .
“ It ’ s our happy place .
Over Easter weekend last year , Keith and I hit the links , and on the second to last hole , he got down on one knee and told me he couldn ’ t live this life without me , ” she @ @ @ @ @ @ @ booked Dart ’ s string ensemble for the ceremony and a Dart DJ for the after-party , after discovering the firm on wedding sites and Instagram .
Dart had the “ fun and classy ” vibes they wanted for their music , Nordine said .
Although they had to kick their wedding back nearly a year due to COVID-19 , they ’ re staying optimistic .
“ It felt selfish and trivial to be sad about it , ” Nordine said .
“ Letting go of something you ’ ve dreamed of is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ but there is nothing quite like this global pandemic to put things into perspective .
If we can survive isolation together , we can survive anything.
” Other couples made it work with a little improvisation .
“ With a wedding , there ’ s a ‘ The show must go on ’ feeling , but we weren ’ t going to risk people ’ s lives , ” said Terry Case , 41 , an engineer in Silicon Valley who had booked his wedding for late March in the Santa Cruz area @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , he and his fiancée instead threw a socially distanced ceremony with six friends in a nearby park .
The band they had originally booked , Coffee Zombie Collective , still played their closing dance as new spouses .
“ I ’ m from West Virginia , and the last song of every wedding there is John Denver ’ s ‘ Take Me Home , Country Roads.
’ Everybody screams it and dances in a circle , ” Case said .
“ The band recorded a version and sent us a link so @ @ @ @ @ @ @ so sweet and we were glad to still do it our own way.
” Right now , everyone in the industry is similarly scrambling .
Kivel , who cut his teeth in the L.A. rock group Kisses , knows it ’ s tumultuous when gigs fall through .
“ A lot of our touring musicians make a stable income from our gig work so they can do a tour that maybe breaks even .
Ultimately , we pay the bills , ” he said .
When that work ends too , it ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ water .
“ Even if you get a good day rate [ playing weddings ] , when you break it all down , it becomes a very normal blue-collar income , ” he said .
“ How do you get from here to 12 or 18 months from now as performer if you don ’ t have other revenue streams ?
” Popular artists are used to the on-and-off cycles of touring and know what to expect as far as saving for the lean months .
Some acts in genres like hip-hop or @ @ @ @ @ @ @ income .
Others take creative approaches to livestreaming that may keep fans ’ interest until shows resume .
Workaday musicians often have no such options .
Some can turn to composing or online instrument lessons to supplement their income for now .
But if you relied on playing for crowds , this is the first time since before the Jazz Age when all gatherings — even prosaic events like company holiday parties — are off the table due to a pandemic .
“ It ’ s such a unique thing .
Other economic @ @ @ @ @ @ @ been socioeconomic situations like wars , riots and strikes , but none of them required specifically not gathering in spaces , ” said Brian Pincus , a musician and bandleader whose family business , the Culver City-based Bob Gail Music , has booked dance and soul bands for weddings and other events in L.A. for 40 years .
“ We ’ re hunkering down and bracing ourselves , and there are going to be cash flow issues , ” he said , “ but if we can ever open back up enough to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ na be an insane last quarter.
” In the meantime , though , those musicians have to figure out how to make ends meet .
Bruce Garnitz , a singer and guitarist who has performed with bands at weddings and events around L.A. since the ‘ 90s , often becomes part of his clients ’ lives .
He ’ s sometimes played the same person ’ s bar mitzvah and wedding decades apart .
Right now , he would be playing a couple of weddings every weekend and four or five gigs throughout @ @ @ @ @ @ @ pays backing musicians , lighting techs and roadies , helping many on the margins of the music industry stay afloat .
During the crisis , he ’ s teaching rock band classes and giving instrument lessons online .
But for him and many gigging musicians he works with , replacement wages are difficult to find .
“ I know how much income we generate for folks , ” Garnitz said .
“ This is a really tough time for working and performing musicians.
” It ’ s even more difficult for immigrant musicians @ @ @ @ @ @ @ multiple threats of the loss of their livelihood to COVID-19 , the incredible difficulty of collecting unemployment benefits and a hostile attitude around immigration from the government .
“ Immigrants in L.A. comprise a lot of mariachis , ” Garcia said .
“ For those who don ’ t have anything else to fall back on , how are they expected to turn around and go into the workforce ?
Do they decide to take a chance and go to Mexico where no one ’ s working either ?
Musicians will have to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Who knows how long the COVID-19 shutdown will last or what kind of gigs await on the other side .
Maybe couples will pare wedding expenses if the expected recession proves severe .
But even in the midst of a pandemic , people fall in love , children are born and loved ones pass away .
People will need to gather to commemorate it all .
When that day comes , they ’ ll need a band .
“ The last gig we played in March , I was like , ‘ Should @ @ @ @ @ @ @ we have come ?
’ ” Garcia said .
“ I felt very torn .
But music is a staple of our culture .
And that couple deserved their moment .
”

Susie Garcia and husband Pepe Martinez Jr. are renowned mariachi bandleaders who have played countless L.A. weddings over the years. Now, they wonder when their next gigs might come.
Until a few weeks ago, if you got married in L.A. and hired a mariachi band, there was a good chance Susie Garcia’s family played you down the aisle.
The singer and bandleader has fronted her own group, the renowned all-female Mariachi Las Colibrí, for a decade and has seen generations of Mexican-American Angelenos through birthdays, baptisms, weddings and funerals. Her husband, Pepe Martinez Jr., leads his own band, Mariachi Ángeles, inspired by his father, the former leader of the legendary Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlán.
Almost every weekend this spring, the two were booked to perform traditional music at cultural events and regale young couples at weddings across Southern California. That is, until early March, when COVID-19 turned everyone’s future around.
“We crossed out about 15 gigs in a week,” Garcia said. “Wedding after wedding, planners were calling me devastated, like, ‘What do we do?’”
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The answer, as every musician and event planner soon learned, was nothing. Life would be on hold for months until the disease abated.
California Coronavirus updates: This is California’s reopening plan for stores, offices, schools, sports, concerts The Los Angeles Times will provide around-the-clock updates on COVID-19 from across Southern California and around the world.Tracking the coronavirus in California: latest numbers | Support our journalism with a subscriptionHave a question about coronavirus? Send us your questions here. | You also can sign up for our newsletterSee latest photo galleryCoronavirus updates for April 27 are here
While the virus has upended touring, shuttered venues and left artists scrambling to livestream living-room concerts, there’s much more to the live music industry than that spotlight. Gigging bands and DJs, the kind who perform at thousands of weddings, bat mitzvahs and private parties across L.A., don’t play globally broadcast all-star fundraisers but have been decimated just the same. Their livelihoods may come back eventually, but the loss of reliable gigs at the peak of wedding season has been sudden and staggering.
Fans don’t just lose a show. They lose the backing music to the most important days of their lives.
“Mariachi ties people to their family and values, that circle of life,” Garcia said. “When that is cut off, that has such an impact.”
The wedding industry isn’t the first place most look to see the fallout of COVID-19 on the music business. But it’s a huge sector that’s a clandestine livelihood for many studio and touring acts.
Advertisement
Around 250,000 couples tied the knot in California last year, at an average cost of $30,000 each, according to industry analyst firm the Wedding Report. Costs for live music vary widely — from a single DJ on a laptop to a dozen-strong band with horns and backing vocalists — but fees can run into the thousands for even a small group.
Compared to the financial gamble and myriad uncertainties of touring original material, playing Motown classics in a hotel ballroom is usually a steady gig. COVID-19, unfortunately, arrived just in time to vaporize those jobs.
“We’ve survived fires and mudslides at our locations, but to have every event for maybe six months all off the table, that really pulled the rug out from under us,” said Jesse Kivel, a musician and co-founder of Dart Collective, an L.A. event-music firm that’s grown into a hub for indie musicians and DJs to make money between tours. Kivel’s firm hires dozens of artists and instrumentalists and had booked around 200 weddings and events for the spring high season.
Many of those couples will reschedule eventually when COVID-19 lets up. Jen Nordine, 28, was set to marry Keith Kniland, 37, in March at the Hideaway country club in the Coachella Valley, where Nordine’s parents had a home when she was younger. “It’s our happy place. Over Easter weekend last year, Keith and I hit the links, and on the second to last hole, he got down on one knee and told me he couldn’t live this life without me,” she said.
The San Francisco tech-industry couple booked Dart’s string ensemble for the ceremony and a Dart DJ for the after-party, after discovering the firm on wedding sites and Instagram. Dart had the “fun and classy” vibes they wanted for their music, Nordine said. Although they had to kick their wedding back nearly a year due to COVID-19, they’re staying optimistic.
“It felt selfish and trivial to be sad about it,” Nordine said. “Letting go of something you’ve dreamed of is always a tough pill to swallow, but there is nothing quite like this global pandemic to put things into perspective. If we can survive isolation together, we can survive anything.”
Other couples made it work with a little improvisation.
“With a wedding, there’s a ‘The show must go on’ feeling, but we weren’t going to risk people’s lives,” said Terry Case, 41, an engineer in Silicon Valley who had booked his wedding for late March in the Santa Cruz area. After California issued its stay-at-home orders, he and his fiancée instead threw a socially distanced ceremony with six friends in a nearby park. The band they had originally booked, Coffee Zombie Collective, still played their closing dance as new spouses.
“I’m from West Virginia, and the last song of every wedding there is John Denver’s ‘Take Me Home, Country Roads.’ Everybody screams it and dances in a circle,” Case said. “The band recorded a version and sent us a link so we could play it. It was so sweet and we were glad to still do it our own way.”
From left, Tim McKay, Gabe Martin, Alekos Syropoulos and Kyle Woods, a group assembled by Dart Collective, play at a wedding. (Dart Collective)
Right now, everyone in the industry is similarly scrambling. Kivel, who cut his teeth in the L.A. rock group Kisses, knows it’s tumultuous when gigs fall through.
“A lot of our touring musicians make a stable income from our gig work so they can do a tour that maybe breaks even. Ultimately, we pay the bills,” he said.
When that work ends too, it’s an enormous challenge to stay above water.
“Even if you get a good day rate [playing weddings], when you break it all down, it becomes a very normal blue-collar income,” he said. “How do you get from here to 12 or 18 months from now as performer if you don’t have other revenue streams?”
Popular artists are used to the on-and-off cycles of touring and know what to expect as far as saving for the lean months. Some acts in genres like hip-hop or pop can rely on streaming revenue for income. Others take creative approaches to livestreaming that may keep fans’ interest until shows resume.
Workaday musicians often have no such options. Some can turn to composing or online instrument lessons to supplement their income for now. But if you relied on playing for crowds, this is the first time since before the Jazz Age when all gatherings — even prosaic events like company holiday parties — are off the table due to a pandemic.
“It’s such a unique thing. Other economic downturns have occurred or there’s been socioeconomic situations like wars, riots and strikes, but none of them required specifically not gathering in spaces,” said Brian Pincus, a musician and bandleader whose family business, the Culver City-based Bob Gail Music, has booked dance and soul bands for weddings and other events in L.A. for 40 years.
“We’re hunkering down and bracing ourselves, and there are going to be cash flow issues,” he said, “but if we can ever open back up enough to have parties, it’s gonna be an insane last quarter.”
Dart DJ co-founder Jesse Kivel, left, speaks with colleagues while DJs Aaron Castle, center, and Dan Terndrup spin records during a gig at the Ace Hotel in downtown LA. (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)
In the meantime, though, those musicians have to figure out how to make ends meet. Bruce Garnitz, a singer and guitarist who has performed with bands at weddings and events around L.A. since the ‘90s, often becomes part of his clients’ lives. He’s sometimes played the same person’s bar mitzvah and wedding decades apart.
Right now, he would be playing a couple of weddings every weekend and four or five gigs throughout the week. When hired, he pays backing musicians, lighting techs and roadies, helping many on the margins of the music industry stay afloat.
During the crisis, he’s teaching rock band classes and giving instrument lessons online. But for him and many gigging musicians he works with, replacement wages are difficult to find.
“I know how much income we generate for folks,” Garnitz said. “This is a really tough time for working and performing musicians.”
It’s even more difficult for immigrant musicians all over L.A., who face the multiple threats of the loss of their livelihood to COVID-19, the incredible difficulty of collecting unemployment benefits and a hostile attitude around immigration from the government.
“Immigrants in L.A. comprise a lot of mariachis,” Garcia said. “For those who don’t have anything else to fall back on, how are they expected to turn around and go into the workforce? Do they decide to take a chance and go to Mexico where no one’s working either? Musicians will have to find other ways to support themselves.”
Who knows how long the COVID-19 shutdown will last or what kind of gigs await on the other side. Maybe couples will pare wedding expenses if the expected recession proves severe. But even in the midst of a pandemic, people fall in love, children are born and loved ones pass away. People will need to gather to commemorate it all. When that day comes, they’ll need a band.
“The last gig we played in March, I was like, ‘Should we be here? Health-wise, should we have come?’” Garcia said. “I felt very torn. But music is a staple of our culture. And that couple deserved their moment.”


latimes--2020-04-28--Beverly Hills lawyer is at center of FBI agent corruption scandal, sources say

When a veteran FBI agent was charged last week with taking bribes , one question loomed : Who was the Beverly Hills lawyer , unnamed in the charging documents , who told investigators he gave the agent cash , escorts and other perks for sensitive law enforcement information ?
Multiple sources identified the lawyer as Edgar Sargsyan , a onetime business partner of Lev Aslan Dermen , a petroleum magnate and reputed organized crime figure .
Sargsyan couldn ’ t be reached for comment and his attorneys didn ’ t respond to requests for comment .
In court papers filed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to five felony counts .
He admitted plying agents from the FBI and Homeland Security Investigations with cash , excursions to Las Vegas and other perks , and receiving inside information and illegal favors in return .
He acknowledged misleading investigators about the bribes .
And he said he perpetrated a bank fraud , known as a bust-out , by taking out credit cards in the names of visa holders who had left the country and charging $ 940,000 to the cards at businesses he controlled .
Now in the process of declaring @ @ @ @ @ @ @ lifestyle : a law office on Rodeo Drive , a mansion in Calabasas and a Rolls Royce Phantom to ferry him between the two , according to a person who knew him well and requested anonymity for fear of retaliation .
Sargsyan oversaw Dermen ’ s hard-money lending operation , SBK Holdings USA , but the two are now bitter enemies .
Sargsyan cooperated with federal authorities investigating Dermen ’ s role in a $ 511-million tax credit fraud , according to court filings in Dermen ’ s case .
Convicted last month @ @ @ @ @ @ @ what could amount to a life sentence .
“ We knew Edgar was committing fraud when we sued him , ” said Mark Geragos , Dermen ’ s longtime attorney .
Dermen filed the suit in 2016 , alleging Sargsyan stole tens of millions of dollars in property and a private jet .
“ This is just the final nail in the coffin.
” Dermen was close with two law enforcement officers : John Saro Balian , a detective for the Glendale Police Department , and Felix Cisneros Jr. , a Homeland Security @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Balian and Cisneros were convicted of public corruption offenses and sentenced to 21 and 12 months , respectively , in prison .
The FBI agent charged last week , Babak Broumand , ran Cisneros ’ and Dermen ’ s names in restricted law enforcement databases , according to an affidavit supporting charges against Broumand .
The queries showed both men were the subjects of ongoing investigations , the affidavit said .
Broumand retired last year after a 20-year career at the bureau .
Prior to his departure , he was assigned to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ trusted with recruiting sources for investigations into national security matters .
It was unclear from court records whether he ’ d retained an attorney .

When a veteran FBI agent was charged last week with taking bribes, one question loomed: Who was the Beverly Hills lawyer, unnamed in the charging documents, who told investigators he gave the agent cash, escorts and other perks for sensitive law enforcement information?
Multiple sources identified the lawyer as Edgar Sargsyan, a onetime business partner of Lev Aslan Dermen, a petroleum magnate and reputed organized crime figure. Sargsyan couldn’t be reached for comment and his attorneys didn’t respond to requests for comment.
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In court papers filed Tuesday, Sargsyan agreed to plead guilty to five felony counts. He admitted plying agents from the FBI and Homeland Security Investigations with cash, excursions to Las Vegas and other perks, and receiving inside information and illegal favors in return. He acknowledged misleading investigators about the bribes. And he said he perpetrated a bank fraud, known as a bust-out, by taking out credit cards in the names of visa holders who had left the country and charging $940,000 to the cards at businesses he controlled.
Now in the process of declaring bankruptcy, Sargsyan once led a sumptuous lifestyle: a law office on Rodeo Drive, a mansion in Calabasas and a Rolls Royce Phantom to ferry him between the two, according to a person who knew him well and requested anonymity for fear of retaliation.
California L.A. petroleum magnate convicted in sprawling biofuel tax scheme A Southern California petroleum mogul whose enormous fortune was long suspected of being criminally derived was convicted in Utah federal court of fraud and money laundering.
Sargsyan oversaw Dermen’s hard-money lending operation, SBK Holdings USA, but the two are now bitter enemies. Sargsyan cooperated with federal authorities investigating Dermen’s role in a $511-million tax credit fraud, according to court filings in Dermen’s case. Convicted last month of 10 felony counts, Dermen faces what could amount to a life sentence.
“We knew Edgar was committing fraud when we sued him,” said Mark Geragos, Dermen’s longtime attorney. Dermen filed the suit in 2016, alleging Sargsyan stole tens of millions of dollars in property and a private jet. “This is just the final nail in the coffin.”
Dermen was close with two law enforcement officers: John Saro Balian, a detective for the Glendale Police Department, and Felix Cisneros Jr., a Homeland Security Investigations agent who worked undercover narcotics operations. Balian and Cisneros were convicted of public corruption offenses and sentenced to 21 and 12 months, respectively, in prison.
The FBI agent charged last week, Babak Broumand, ran Cisneros’ and Dermen’s names in restricted law enforcement databases, according to an affidavit supporting charges against Broumand. The queries showed both men were the subjects of ongoing investigations, the affidavit said.
Broumand retired last year after a 20-year career at the bureau. Prior to his departure, he was assigned to the FBI office in San Francisco, trusted with recruiting sources for investigations into national security matters. It was unclear from court records whether he’d retained an attorney.