LA Coalition Demands ‘Circuit Breaker’ to urgently suppress the spread of COVID-19 to save lives and support workers

LOS ANGELES — Yesterday, LA County reported 22,422 new COVID-19 cases, recording the highest daily COVID-19 infection count since the start of the pandemic.  That is why a coalition of labor, health experts and community organizations is demanding that the LA County Board of Supervisors urgently enact a ‘circuit breaker’ — a strict 4-week lockdown in January to bring the virus under control.

Bold action and leadership are needed right now, and a circuit breaker in LA County would lower cases to relieve the pressure on hospitals and healthcare workers, allow state and local health agencies to strengthen the testing and tracing system, and allow the system to work better to prevent future surges in viral transmission. A circuit-breaker is a limited-time measure that includes curfews and the closure of all nonessential businesses with safety nets in place for businesses to stay closed and workers to stay safe at home.

The LA coalition members include more than a dozen healthcare, labor and community organizations that represent tens of thousands of LA workers, including frontline healthcare workers, pre-K-12 and university educators, grocery store workers, hospitality workers, educational, housing and racial justice advocates.

The coalition sent a letter to the LA County Board of Supervisors on Wednesday and posted a public petition demanding the Board to urgently plan for the 4-week lockdown and to provide immediate safety nets for businesses, workers and families so they can safely stay home. 

“Healthcare workers throughout Los Angeles are reaching their breaking point. They are understaffed, overworked and inundated with patients fighting for their lives,” said Sal Rosselli, President of the National Union of Healthcare Workers. “COVID-19 cannot be allowed to spread following the December holidays the way it spread after Thanksgiving. We all have to work together to keep this from getting worse, and that starts with people having the financial security to stay home.”

The victims of COVID are overwhelmingly essential workers, poor people, and people of color. Latinos in Los Angeles are dying of COVID at twice the rate of white people. One in three Black Americans personally know someone who has died of COVID.  Asians who become infected with COVID-19 are over four times as likely to die compared to other Angelenos. Residents of high poverty areas are dying at nearly twice the rate of wealthier residents. 

The coalition letter calls on LA County’s elected leaders need to take bold leadership, based on science and rooted in equity, to save lives. The signers of the letter include:  AF3IRM, conveners of Kanlungan.net; AFSCME Local 3299; Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment (ACCE); California Nurses Association (CNA); LAANE – Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy; National Union of Healthcare Workers (NUHW); Reclaim Our Schools Los Angeles (ROSLA); Southeast Asian Community Alliance (SEACA); Strategic Actions for a Just Economy (SAJE); Students Deserve; UFCW Local 770; UNITE HERE LOCAL 11; United Auto Workers Local 2865, representing Academic Student Employees at University of California and United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA). Individuals include Prof. Ninez Ponce, MPP, PhD, UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, UCLA Fielding School of Public Health; Dr. Ryan Huerto, Family Medicine Physician, National Clinician Scholars Program at the University of Michigan and Dr. Sue Chang, Pathologist, Assistant Clinical Professor, City of Hope (individual institutional affiliations provided for identification purposes only).

“We have reached a crossroads where only decisive measures can prevent our hospitals from becoming overwhelmed. A time-limited ‘circuit breaker’ can reverse the tide of the epidemic, bring the number of cases down by breaking the chain of infection, and reduce pressure on our healthcare system,” said public health expert Prof. Ninez Ponce, MPP, PhD, with the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health. “This pandemic is disproportionately taking the lives of those in our Black, Latino, Asian and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander communities – many of whom are essential workers in our hospitals.”

With LA County contributing over $710 billion GDP to the U.S. economy, the county has the financial power to provide the necessary safety nets to businesses, workers, and families directly impacted by closures. The coalition is also pushing the Board of Supervisors to demand urgent state and federal funds for safety nets to allow businesses to stay closed and workers to stay safe at home.

Los Angeles County is the largest governmental body in California — and is also leading the state in cases and deaths. The case rate in Los Angeles is nearly four times that of San Francisco’s. This shows clearly that this is not just a failure of leadership at the federal level, as our local leaders like to claim.

In order to make the circuit breaker successful, our elected leaders need to issue clear closure procedures for non-essential businesses and activities, and sufficient supports for businesses and people. This is the only way to enact a meaningful lockdown that truly suppresses the virus. 

Circuit breakers have been used effectively in other countries to suppress the spread of COVID-19 and save lives. Strong, time-limited measures can reverse the tide of the epidemic and bring the number of cases down by breaking the chain of infection.

Details: www.actionnetwork.org/petitions/four-week-lockdown