‘Optimistic with some caution’: LA’s chief health officer on COVID-19 and possible reopenings

In LA, new coronavirus cases, hospitalizations, and deaths are all down significantly compared to the peak of the outbreak in July. If the county can keep its numbers low for the next two weeks, it could soon move to a less restrictive tier of the governor’s reopening system and let more businesses reopen.

“We’re optimistic with some caution. We still have improved our case rate even without reopening any other sectors, and we have improved our test positivity rate,” says Dr. Muntu Davis, LA County Chief Health Officer. “So that’s good. That means a good number of people and businesses are doing what they need to do to slow the spread.”

He says the county will consider green-lighting more openings after this weekend’s data comes in. “We are always cautious because every time we’ve had a reopening we’ve seen an increase in cases. We just don’t know what that magnitude might be,” he says.