In response to the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak, this morning the City Council convened to pass emergency legislation such as an eviction moratorium as well as to come together with city departments to discuss the collective response to the emergency. We plan to continue to meet weekly throughout this crisis and I will update you with steps taken.
Moving forward, the most important thing we can do collectively is continue to abide by social distancing and wash our hands thoroughly. Governor Newsom has advised that everyone over age 65 stay at home, and I urge you to do so if you are over 65 or are immunocompromised in any way. Even if you are young and healthy, for the sake of others and potentially someone you love please take these steps to avoid spreading this virus.
With at least weeks more of these measures projected by the CDC, one of the issues I’m worried about is loneliness among seniors. If you have an elderly family member or neighbor, please give them a call and see if they need anything. Even though my parents live across the street, one thing I’ve started doing is ‘face timing’ with them during dinner so our family can at least share that small but important slice of normalcy while avoiding direct contact.
Critical programs like Meals on Wheels will continue to operate and announced that they are opening early at 7:00am for people over 65 years old. But please check in with older people in your life and see if they need a grocery run or any other assistance.
Also my Emergency Preparedness Community Action Team (BobCAT) has been activated to assess the needs in the district for community organizations and how we can help meet them. My BobCAT has been up and running for ten years and has been collecting critical supplies for those in need that we distributed during fires. We do this so we can help those in need in a crisis and we are doing this today. We will get through this together.
Lastly, please know that:
I will continue to share information but please continue to check for updates from the LA County Department of Public Health and from the City of Los Angeles.
Councilmember Bob Blumenfield