LOS ANGELES — With Southern California in the midst of the year’s first big heat wave, Los Angeles County’s stay-at-home order will face a major test as all 72 miles of the region’s coast remain closed.
Record-high temperatures were reported Friday at Burbank’s Bob Hope Airport, where a high of 99 degrees broke the old record of 93 degrees set in 1965, and at UCLA, where a recording of 87 degrees broke the old record of 86 set in 2001.
Things were expected to cool off Saturday night, but temperatures will remain above normal, in the 80s, for the next seven days, said Mike Wofford, a meteorologist with the weather service in Oxnard.
Barbara Ferrer, director of the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, has said repeatedly that the beaches must remain closed to prevent an overflow of visitors who might be carrying the coronavirus. She has asked L.A. residents not to crowd beaches in neighboring Ventura and Orange counties.
“We have high rates of illness and a lot of people in our county who are dying. We know it’s best right now for us Angelenos to stay home, or stay outside in your own yard or your own neighborhood,” Ferrer told the media Wednesday. To do otherwise, she said, would increase the risk of bringing the infection to L.A. “And we absolutely don’t need that.”
Ferrer on Saturday renewed her call for people to stay home.
“Continue to do your part and save lives,” she said in a statement. “This is how we get to the other side of the outbreak and begin our recovery.”
That came as L.A. County reported 48 new deaths and 607 additional cases of the coronavirus. Long Beach, which has its own health department, also reported 26 new cases, bringing the county total to 895 deaths and more than 19,100 cases.
“This past week in L.A. County, we doubled the number of deaths from COVID-19 and diagnosed more than 7,000 new cases,” Ferrer said in a statement. “Because we are still seeing a significant increase in new cases and deaths, we ask that you continue to stay home as much as possible.”
Most Ventura and Orange County beaches are open, but officials in both counties warn visitors to either stay away or to abide by social distancing practices.
The city of Ventura eased a hard closure on parks and beaches last week in effort to help residents stay mentally and physically healthy amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Under an amended ordinance, residents can now access the city’s beaches, pier, promenade and parks as long as they keep their distance from one another and remain active. People can walk on the pier or the sand but are not allowed to sit down, or stand against the railing to fish, for example.
“The city has some of the lowest COVID-19 rates in Ventura County because of the hard work and sacrifices made by our residents,” Ventura Mayor Matt LaVere said in a statement.
On Saturday, the opening of area’s beaches brought out an unseasonably large crowd in the hundreds, Ventura Police Cmdr. Tom Higgins said.
Most people, drawn by comfortable temperatures that hovered in the mid 70s under pale-blue skies, stuck to the bike and running paths just above the sand.
California has recorded over 41,000 cases of the coronavirus, and over 1,600 people have died.
