LA County Sheriff says he will not enforce 'stay-at-home' or other lockdown orders
Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villaneuva has taken a stand against California Governor Gavin Newsom in defiance of Newsom's coronavirus lockdown orders.
Villaneuva has stated that he will not enforce the governor’s new statewide stay-at-home order that prohibits people from going outside for “unnecessary” activities.
In a conversation with KTTV’s Bill Melugin, Sheriff Villaneuva reportedly “tells me he found out about the new stay at home orders from Governor Newsom’s press conference, and there was no coordination with law enforcement beforehand, which he says is concerning when the Governor is expecting enforcement of his orders.”
“I want to stay away from business[es] that are trying to comply, they bent over backwards to modify their operations to conform to these orders and then they have the rug yanked out from under them, that’s a disservice. I don’t want to make them more miserable,” said Villaneuva.
Melugin notes that Villaneuva shared his belief that the Lakers & Dodgers celebrations-turned-riots and Thanksgiving violations played a part in recent surges of the disease in California, and that the protests in Summer “contributed to an earlier surge.” He noted that he “doesn’t believe restaurants, etc. are to blame.”
Sheriff Villanueva: "I want to stay away from business that are trying to comply, they bent over backwards to modify their operations to conform to these orders and then they have the rug yanked out from under them, that's a disservice, I don't want to make them more miserable."
— Bill Melugin (@BillFOXLA) December 4, 2020
On Thursday, Governor Newsom issued a series of stay-at-home guidelines and placed the responsibility of the enforcement orders on California health officials.
“Residents are required to stay at home as much as possible and minimize mixing to reduce unnecessary exposure, while still being able to do important things like go to the doctor, buy groceries, pick up take out, go on a hike, or worship outdoors,” the announcement read.
“K-12 schools that are already open can remain open and retailers can operate indoors at no more than 20 percent capacity to reduce exposure risk. The public health order takes effect at 12:59 p.m. on December 5. Thereafter, if a region falls below the 15 percent ICU threshold, it will have 24 hours to implement the Stay at Home Order.”
“Regions will remain in the Regional Stay at Home Order status for at least three weeks once triggered,” the governor’s office stated. “Counties are eligible to come off the Regional Stay at Home Order after three weeks if their hospital ICU capacity projected four weeks out reaches 15 percent.”
The guidelines prohibit playgrounds, recreational facilities, hair salons and barbershops, personal care services, museums, zoos and aqua
Ian Miles Cheong
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Ian Miles Cheong is a freelance writer, graphic designer, journalist and videographer. He’s kind of a big deal on Twitter.
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