President Donald Trump sent a message to kids at home regarding the coronavirus on Friday, during a press conference at the White House.
“I would say that you are a citizen of the greatest country anywhere in the world, and we were attacked,” Trump said.
The president was asked by a reporter for a message to kids who were stuck at home from school.
“I would say that they have a duty to sit back, watch, behave, wash their hands, stay in the apartment with mom and dad … and just learn from it,” Trump said.
Trump admitted that some of the students were probably happy to be at home.
“Some of them are very happy not to go to school,” he said. “Again, they should just sit back and be very proud of our country, because we’re doing it for them.”
Trump said that he was pleased that the young people were not as affected by the coronavirus.
“The young people are really attacked at a much lesser extent,” he said, adding, “The children do very well.”
A massive 552 members of the New York City Police Department have tested positive for the coronavirus, including 442 officers.
Additionally, 4,111 NYPD officers are now on sick leave, which accounts for 11.4 percent of the department’s uniformed force.
New York has become the US epicenter of the outbreak. As of Friday evening, there have been 25,500 confirmed cases of the Chinese virus and 366 deaths in the five boroughs.
The NYPD lost its first employee to the coronavirus on Thursday, Dennis Dickson, 62, a civilian cleaner at police HQ with a pre-existing heart condition.
“Today we lost one of our own,” Commissioner Dermot Shea said in a video message posted to Twitter on Thursday evening. “When Hurricane Sandy struck, he worked 17 days straight, and since the coronavirus has struck the city, he has been keeping the NYPD safe. Today he passed away from complications of the coronavirus. We have lost a member of the NYPD family and our thoughts and prayers go out to his family.”
Today we lost one of our own:
City Custodial Assistant Dennis Dickson, who faithfully served with the NYPD since 2006, has passed away from complications related to the coronavirus.
NYPD’s head of counter-terrorism, deputy commissioner John Miller, is also in serious condition at Lenox Hill Hospital with symptoms of coronavirus, according to a report from the New York Post.
President Trump announced the United States will build 100,000 ventilators in 100 days to deal with the COVID-19 Chinese coronavirus. Trump said that if it turns out there are surplus ventilators after taking care of Americans he will share them with the nations of the world.
Trump spoke about the ventilators at the daily White House coronavirus task force where he also spoke about invoking the Defense Production Act to order General Motors to produce ventilators after negotiations faltered this week. Trump also announced he is appointing Peter Navarro to be the National Defense Production Act Policy Coordinator.
Trump listed several companies in addition to GM that will partake in the ventilator effort: GE, Philips, Medtronic, Hamilton, Zoll, ResMed; HillRom and Vyair.
Last night on Hannity Trump expressed skepticism about the need for the 30,000 to 40,000 ventilators requested by New York and he held that skepticism at the briefing Friday.
On Hannity, Trump says he doesn’t believe NY Gov. Guomo actually needs the ventilators he’s asking for.
However, Trump obviously has decided to err on the side of over production with a benefit of helping the world by being able to share surplus ventilators or to continue making them on a large scale until the pandemic ends.
Thursday night the New York Times reported on the problems with the GM negotiations, but reported the story to leave the impression that Trump was too cheap to spend $1 billion on ventilators to save American lives.
Via @SangerNYT, @KannoYoungs and me, the White House was all set yesterday to announce a deal on accelerated ventilator production w GM. Then suddenly, the deal was off. Among the concerns said to have been cited by the Colonel at FEMA working on it? 1/ https://t.co/m7RxHw7YLg
2/2 the pricetag and whether they would end up with an expensive surplus of ventilators. The pricetag would be just over $1 bill for duration of deal. The govt just forged a $2 trill spending deal https://t.co/m7RxHw7YLg
Record numbers of people are turning to online faith platforms during the coronavirus crisis as their places of worship have shut down indefinitely and people of faith are urged to remain at home.
The crisis has worsened just as Easter and Passover, high points of the year in the Christian and Jewish faiths, will be celebrated in the coming weeks.
“For the past several weeks, as Catholic dioceses around the country and around the world have suspended Masses, EWTN has been seeing a dramatic increase in media consumption,” Michael P. Warsaw, board chairman and CEO of the EWTN Global Catholic Network, told Breitbart News:
For example, our video on demand platforms alone are seeing an increase over previous traffic levels between 300-500% daily. We have seen our general web traffic increasing by over 500% on some days.
While we don’t know the exact audience numbers, there is no doubt that our television and radio networks are seeing huge increases as well. People have a great deal of anxiety and fear at this moment and it’s clear that they are looking for hope, something that EWTN can help provide.
Warsaw explained how his network has reached out to people during the crisis:
First and foremost, we have maintained a live daily televised Mass from our Chapel at the Network headquarters in Irondale, Alabama. This Mass is also repeated several times daily on our television channels and streaming services. We have now made that Mass available on-demand on our digital platforms. In addition, we have reformatted one of our radio channels to focus on prayers and devotionals, including multiple daily airings of the Mass. All of these have been extremely popular. We also are streaming live Eucharistic Adoration on our website, which gives people around the world a place to go where they can pray with others simultaneously. EWTN has also added a number of other devotional programs across all of our platforms to meet people’s needs.
Family Research Council (FRC), a nonprofit research and educational organization that advocates for a family-centered philosophy of public life and espouses a biblical worldview, has provided a resource page titled “COVID-19 and the Church” on its website. The site offers creative ideas for churches and ministries to continue faith encounters in a safe manner during the crisis.
In his “Washington Update” Thursday, FRC President Tony Perkins especially emphasized the seriousness of the coronavirus crisis:
This crisis is deadly serious. And while I know there are still faith leaders out there who doubt the motivation behind the shutdown, I assure you, churches are not being targeted. The CDC’s standards have been applied across the board to every organization, non-essential business, sanctuary, school, and other facility.
Of course, there are other countries — like China — who are using the virus as an excuse to crack down on faith even more. That isn’t the case here. We have a president, vice president, and administration more committed to religious freedom than any other.
Perkins called on faith leaders to be creative with their ministries during this time:
And fortunately, as we’ve discovered over the last few weeks, faith leaders don’t have to sit at home twiddling their thumbs and waiting for worst to pass. There are plenty of creative ways for church leaders to continue ministering to their congregations and their communities. If you need ideas or suggestions, visit our website: FRC.org/church. In the meantime, do your part. The best way you can love your community is to protect it.
Orthodox Jews may also turn to online platform Zoom to celebrate the Passover Seder during the pandemic.
According to a report at the Jerusalem Post, despite the usual Orthodox prohibition on the use of electricity on Shabbat and holidays, senior Orthodox rabbis are permitting families to use the cloud video platform to join with each other for Passover.
In a remarkable ruling, senior Orthodox rabbis have given permission for people to use the Zoom video conferencing service at the Passover Seder to allow families separated by the coronavirus pandemic to connect with one another on what is one of the high points of the Jewish calendar.
Rabbi Eliyahu Abergel, a highly respected arbiter of Jewish law who served as the head of the Jerusalem Rabbinical Court for a decade, together with several other municipal chief rabbis, wrote in response to requests to use Zoom at the Passover Seder that it would be possible under certain restrictions due to the “time of emergency” currently being experienced.
Some faith leaders say online ministry services that are offering a more individualized faith experience during the crisis may change the way worship happens in some communities even after this episode has subsided.
“I think we have an opportunity, actually, to engage at a deeper level,” Judah Smith, lead pastor of Churchome, with locations in Seattle and Los Angeles, told Fox News. “We’re finding that actually being home, engaging face-to-face is going to lead us actually to an interesting place in faith and I think will change how we worship going forward.”
“Church is still happening!” Churchome states on its website:
In times like these, we are so grateful for our interactive online church experience. If you haven’t yet downloaded the free Churchome app, we encourage you to do so!
Church will be LIVE on Sunday 3/29 at 9am and 12pm (PT) on the Churchome app, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, & @judahsmith Instagram Live.
Visitors to the website can download Churchome’s free app. The ministry’s online services “include an inspiring message, time to connect with God through music, and an opportunity to meet with others in the live digital Lobby!” states the website.
“Our hope is that our community would continue to find meaningful ways to connect even when it’s difficult to gather together in this season!” Churchome adds.
According to the Fox News report, Smith says the Churchome app has grown by 110 percent, with attendance surging 139 percent.
“This is an opportunity to follow in the footsteps of Jesus and learn to love your neighbor as yourself,” the pastor said. “I think church at home and church in smaller settings is going to be a massive trend going for many, many years.”
Dr. Grazie Pozo Christie, policy advisor for The Catholic Association, said in a statement to Breitbart News that “‘sudden distancing’ from rites, sacraments, adoration, and warm, supportive parish communities has left millions of American Catholics bereft and unmoored at a time of heightened anxiety.”
She added:
Thankfully, online resources are comforting us spiritually and reconnecting us virtually. Countless Catholics are watching daily masses and of course Sunday masses which are being live-streamed from around the world. This way, regular people are joining the chronically homebound who have long depended on television to “attend” mass. For additional spiritual nourishment, podcasts like “Conversations with Consequences” from The Catholic Association are available, as well as the Dominican-led Thomistic Institute’s “Quarantine Lectures” just to mention two of many thousands on offer.
“We can’t physically congregate, but the internet is coming through for us,” Christie observed.
Although everyone has been affected by COVID-19, not everyone has been affected equally.
The United States now leads the world in confirmed cases of COVID-19, the contagious disease caused by the new coronavirus. Efforts to slow the spread have had significant economic ramifications for Americans.
Unfortunately, many are feeling the effects of reduced business activity, layoffs, and furloughs.
That’s led Congress to respond with the CARES Act, which includes sending checks to the overwhelming majority of U.S. households, based almost exclusively on the number of people in the household.
The problem with sending checks to
everyone is that the funds will be inadequate for many and gratuitous for
others.
Prior to the COVID-19 epidemic, the U.S. economy was incredibly strong. We had record-low unemployment, more jobs available than Americans looking for work, and strong income growth, with the lowest-income workers experiencing the largest gains.
Let’s think of February as the baseline, with the chart below representing different groups of workers and their full income levels.
Then came the COVID-19 public health crisis, with measures taken to prevent overwhelming spread of the coronavirus sending shocks throughout the economy.
Millions of individuals who work for or
own businesses that were forced to shut down or experienced a massive drop in
demand have lost all or most of their incomes.
Millions of families who do not have a stay-at-home parent available to watch their children while schools and child care facilities are closed face the choice of not working at all (or doing only what they can remotely) versus paying someone to watch their children.
At the same time, certain subsets of the economy—like grocery stores, big box and online retailers, pharmacies, and teleworking software companies—are overwhelmed with increased demand and actively recruiting workers.
Amazon alone is hiring 100,000 warehouse and delivery workers and increasing pay for its current workers by $2 per hour.
One option for policymakers is just to send
checks to every household in America.
That would get money out the door
quickly, but it wouldn’t be anywhere near enough for many workers. Already,
millions of Americans have lost their jobs and many business owners don’t have revenue
to pay their bills and payrolls. For them, one-time checks wouldn’t cut it.
Meanwhile, the checks would be windfall benefits for households fortunate enough to keep their jobs and incomes. But with relatively few stores, restaurants, entertainment venues, or vacation sites open where Americans could spend the money, the checks are unlikely to stimulate economic activity.
Checks for every household would add
significantly to America’s already precarious debt, however.
A better alternative is to provide income and support to maintain Americans’ incomes and connections to employment. That would mean less disruption during the downturn, and once it’s safe, a quicker return to business activity.
COVID-19 is a temporary public health emergency. Individuals and businesses have been hurt through no fault of their own.
The more Americans who can maintain their employment and income—even if they temporarily are not working or are working fewer hours—the quicker the economy can recover.
Stunning Visualization Reveals Where Spring Break Covidiots Traveled After Flooding Florida Beaches
On Monday we reported how thousands of young Americans laughed off warnings to self-isolate and partied on Florida beaches anyway for spring break – with several now testing positive for COVID-19.
The poster child for these selfish ‘covidiots’ – who will statistically survive coronavirus – was a spring breaker from Ohio, Bradley Sluder – told CBS News: "If I get corona, I get corona. At the end of the day, I’m not gonna let it stop me from partying," adding "We’re just out here having a good time. Whatever happens, happens."
“If I get corona, I get corona. At the end of the day, I’m not gonna let it stop me from partying”: Spring breakers are still flocking to Miami, despite coronavirus warnings. https://t.co/KoYKI8zNDHpic.twitter.com/rfPfea1LrC
In case you were wondering how far these spring break ‘covidiots’ traveled for their ill-advised debauchery data visualization company Tectonixused cell phone location data collected by company X-Mode to map out the travels of thousands of spring breakers, using special geo-spatial big-data analysis software.
The data – provided by cell phone companies in near real-time, was anonymized.
Watch:
This shows the location data of phones that were on a Florida beach during Spring Break. It then shows where those phones traveled.
First thing you should note is the importance of social distancing. The second is how much data your phone gives off. pic.twitter.com/iokUX3qjeB
This kind of data is obviously incredibly useful and has a wide-range of applications. But while the data used is "anonymized," meaning it is not linked to the phone’s owner, researchers have found that it is incredibly easy to link the two. https://t.co/UmMej1ZKui
47,000 Stores Shutter Across The US As Virtually All Retailers Stop Paying Rent
Even before the coronavirus pandemic ground the US economy to a halt, the US brick and mortar retail sector was facing an apocalypse of epic proportions with dozens of retailers filing for bankruptcy in recent years as Amazon stole everyone’s market share…
Since June 2015, retail chains have accumulated more than $45 billion in aggregate chapter 11 liabilities in connection with over 80 bankruptcy filings: pic.twitter.com/Q1XO9pSWij
… resulting in tens of thousands of stores across the nation shuttering.
So what has taken place in the retail sector in just the past few weeks is straight out of the the 9th circle of hell.
With cash flows dwindling, and their survival in question every day, the total collapse in revenue has meant that firms such as (recently reorganized) Mattress Firm and Subway are among some of the major U.S. retail and restaurant chains telling landlords they will withhold or slash rent in the coming months after closing stores to slow the coronavirus, Bloomberg reports citing sources.
Aware that one way (out of bankruptcy) or another (in bankruptcy), they will end up renegtiating their leases, retail chains are proactively calling for rent reductions through lease amendments and other measures starting in April.
Mattress Firm, with about 2,400 stores, sent landlords a letter last week saying it would cut rent in exchange for longer leases and offering two options to do so. This week, it sent a more urgent note revoking its earlier offer.
“The decline in revenue and forced store closures across the nation are more drastic, compressed and immediate than we originally anticipated,” the company wrote in a letter reviewed by Bloomberg. “Our need is now more severe,” the firm said, invoking the virus as a force majeure event that “will prevent or prohibit us” from paying rent.
After being contacted by Bloomberg, Mattress Firm confirmed that it has requested a temporary suspension of rent.
“We appreciate our landlord partners, and the responses have been encouraging so far,” Randy Carlin, chief real estate officer for Mattress Firm, said in a statement. “We will continue to do everything we can to maintain business continuity and to ensure there are jobs available for our people to return to when this crisis ends.”
Subway Restaurants, which has more than 20,000 U.S. locations, sent out a letter to landlords last week saying that it might cut or postpone rental payments due to the virus, according a person with knowledge of the situation. The Real Deal, a real estate trade publication, reported on the communication earlier.
Virtually every other US retailer has also told their landlords the same, and if not, they will soon.
These moves, as Bloomberg notes, mark the next phase in virus fallout: what happens to billions in rent owed for businesses that have been closed? The stakes are high. Retail has a slew of big chains in turnaround mode. And if they do withhold payments, there would be a ripple effect. Landlords can’t afford to stop collecting rent for long, with many property owners sitting on loads of debt.
Worse, if landlords refuse to budge, it’s unclear how this mutually assured destruction will conclude in anyone’s favor. The fiscal stimulus packages being considered don’t directly address rents. But the Federal Reserve’s actions may give banks the leeway to defer mortgage payments, allowing property owners to delay rent. Some retailers may also declare a “force majeure,” a contract clause that covers highly unusual events, although whether or not landlords or banks accept this is a different question.
“The court system is just going to get flooded with a million of these disputes between tenants and landlords,” said Vince Tibone, an analyst at Green Street Advisors. “If the government doesn’t step in in any form or fashion, it could get ugly. They need to respond quickly.”
In short: this will be the biggest in court mess ever, and whether it involves in court bankruptcy or not, will not matter one bit, as there is simply no money.
The good news is that some landlords have recognized they need to help smaller tenants. For example, California’s Irvine Company Retail Properties, is allowing rent to be deferred for 90 days and then paid back with no interest over a year starting in January. The firm confirmed the practice without further comment. Bedrock, a Detroit developer, said it will waive rent and other fees for three months for its smaller retail and restaurant tenants.
However, for many other landlords, who themselves are highly levered, forbearing on rent is simply not an auction as the lack of even a few months of liquidity could mean the different between life and death. Indeed, it may also be the tipping point for America’s malls, many of which should have shuttered long ago yet subsisted as zombie creatures kept alive by cheap money. Well, no more, and the result is a massive victory for all those who had the "Big Short 2.0" trade on their books: also known as the great mall armageddon trade via CMBX Series 6, and which we discussed yesterday, has made its long-suffering fans very right.
But even if retailers succeed in getting a rent reprieve for a month or two, in the grand scheme of things it will hardly make much of a difference. The reason: in just the past 10 days, more than 47,000 chain stores across the US shut their doors – temporarily, or so they hope – as retailers took extreme measures to help slow the spread of the coronavirus pandemic according to Bloomberg data. At least 90 nationwide retailers, ranging from Macy’s to GameStop to Michael Kors have temporarily gone dark.
While most have pledged to remain closed for at least two weeks, many if not all will likely have to stay closed for much longer, because as we showed earlier, the US is very early on the coronavirus curve, and many weeks have to pass before the peak is hit.
It has been an unprecedented moment for shopping in America, a country that contains more retail selling space than any other.
“In the space of a week, the retail landscape has changed from being fairly normalized to being absolutely disrupted beyond what we’ve ever seen before outside of the Second World War,” Neil Saunders, managing director of GlobalData Retail, said.
After Apple, Nike and Urban Outfitters were among the first to announce store closures on Saturday, March 14, the store shuttering pace quickened over the remainder of the week. Then shopping centers closed by the hundreds, with developers like Simon Property Group and Westfield, owned by Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, locking up their entire U.S. mall networks. By Monday, March 23, at least 47,000 chain stores were shut. Most told customers that goods would be available online, but even store websites weren’t immune. Victoria’s Secret, T.J. Maxx and Marshalls decided to cease operations in their distribution centers and shut down their e-commerce businesses.
There is some hope that when the virus is contained, shopping will get back to normal but in all likelihood the shopping experience in America may never be the same. People could still lean towards social distancing and be fearful of crowds, said Simeon Siegel, an analyst at BMO Capital Markets.“Even when companies are given the all-clear, we don’t yet know when consumers are going to embrace that,” he said. On the other hand, should the lock down duration extend, many of the stores listed above will simply liquidate and never be heard from again.
The TGP report written by contributor Kristinn Taylor was based on a column published earlier this month by the esteemed former New York Lieutenant Governor Betsy McCaughey (who served under Governor George Pataki), a February report by the New York Times and a 2015 press release by the Cuomo administration.
And we also discovered evidence from a New York State Health Department important report on why the decision was made to reject purchasing emergency ventilators.
The extra ventilators were not purchased due to funding concerns.
Page 30 of 272 pages.
The Cuomo Administration rejected the purchase of the ventilators and as The New York Times reported they focused on lotteries and death panels instead.
This really struck a nerve in the fake news media.
It must really threaten them that the Cuomo administration was so callous in their responsibilities.
Death panels aren’t too popular in the middle of a pandemic, huh?
The liberal media HATES it when you report honestly on their folk heroes.
Of course, as we explained above — our reporting was 100% correct.
So will the fake news ever apologize to us?
ROME — Several Christian groups and religious leaders have expressed concerns that sweeping government actions to combat the spread of coronavirus endanger religious liberty.
“When the world deals with a crisis such as this — the coronavirus pandemic — religious freedom is often affected first, especially in countries that are closed off to Christianity,” said Dede Laugesen, Executive Director of Save the Persecuted Christians (STPC), in an article published Tuesday.
“Situations like these also create opportunities for persecutors to exploit the crisis and operate with a greater sense of impunity,” Ms. Laugesen noted. “Therefore, it remains imperative for believers who do enjoy religious liberties to continue to pray for our brothers and sisters in Christ who are at risk of anti-Christian violence.”
For its part, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) released a new fact sheet this week outlining some of the effects of the coronavirus outbreak on religious liberty worldwide.
Since the outbreak of COVID-19, governments have been implementing various public health interventions to control the spread of the illness, including “large public programs, restrictions on freedom of movement, and government management of critical resources,” USCIRF noted.
“It is important for governments to account for religious freedom concerns in their responses to COVID-19, for reasons of both legality and policy effectiveness,” USCIRF declares. “From a legal perspective, international law requires governments to preserve individual human rights, including religious freedom, when taking measures to protect public health even in times of crisis.”
The USCIRF report looks at countries like China, South Korea, Iran, and Saudi Arabia, underscoring examples of “how public health emergencies can increase the risk to marginalized religious groups.”
But among this group is also Italy, which has enacted strict and binding regulations affecting freedom of movement and activity.
In an article posted Tuesday, Italian journalist Andrea Gagliarducci asks why freedom of worship is not among the compelling reasons for leaving one’s home and why the Church has not insisted on this.
The Italian state has spelled out with precision what does and does not constitute a valid reason for leaving one’s residence, but caring for one’s spiritual health by praying in church or accessing the sacraments does not figure among them.
The underlying problem is not just an overreaching state anxious to deprive believers of their rights, but the ready acquiescence of the Church to such overreach, Gagliarducci suggests.
“The problem is that, while in an emergency, the Church is not thinking about defending what she has to defend: freedom of worship,” he writes.
“The Italian case is a good example. The lockdown in Italy is very strict. One cannot move without compelling reasons,” he notes. “However, there is no mention of worship among the compelling reasons,” he continues, despite the fact that the right to worship “is a fundamental right of the Italian constitution.”
“So, what does a faithful do if he needs to go to confession? What does a priest do if he has to go and give the anointment of the sick?” he wonders aloud. “If the police asks, one can say it is a compelling necessity. Since, however, the worship is not contemplated in the law, a prickly officer could even fine the priest or arrest him.”
In the end, Gagliarducci insists, the Church has missed an opportunity to insist on the importance of religious freedom, even in a time of a health crisis.
“The Church should have vehemently objected to the government bill that did not contemplate worship issues,” he writes. “This bill creates a precedent. If one day, the Italian State will want to deny the freedom of worship, it will be easy to remember the precedent on this particular situation.”
In a recent open letter, Cardinal Raymond Burke, a renowned canon lawyer the former head of the Vatican’s supreme court, makes a similar case, observing that the state makes a critical distinction between what it considers to be “essential” activities,” such as buying food and medicine, and “optional” activities, such as watching a movie or an athletic competition.
During a health crisis such as that of the coronavirus, essential activities are allowed whereas optional activities are suspended.
In his letter, the cardinal argues that it is a mistake to yield to the misunderstanding that spiritual goods are less important than physical goods and to suggest that churches are more like cinemas and sports stadiums than grocery stores and pharmacies.
“In considering what is needed to live, we must not forget that our first consideration is our relationship with God,” the cardinal writes. “That is why it is essential for us, at all times and above all in times of crisis, to have access to our churches and chapels, to the Sacraments, and to public devotions and prayers.”
“Just as we are able to purchase food and medicine, while taking care not to spread the coronavirus in the process, so also we must be able to pray in our churches and chapels, receive the Sacraments, and engage in acts of public prayer and devotion,” he contends. “Without the help of God, we are indeed lost.”
Left-wing Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said Tuesday that small business owners who do not adhere to his coronavirus mandate and shut down their “nonessential” businesses could be criminally charged and have their water and power shut off.
“If you don’t (shut down), we will shut you down,” the mayor threatened his constituents.
So-called “nonessential businesses,” which include bars, gyms, gun shops, and hair salons, have been forced to shutter under the mayor’s order, indisputably causing direct economic pain for employers and their employees, at no fault of their own.
While employers likely see their own actions as necessary to stay afloat and pay their employees, Garcetti slammed them as “irresponsible and selfish.”
“We’re still getting reports, each day, of nonessential businesses that continue to operate as normal. This behavior is irresponsible and selfish,” said the mayor. “It may serve a few people for a moment, but it will put all of us at risk for a long time.”
Garcetti’s so-called “Safer at Home Business Ambassadors Program” plan will crack down on businesses not adhering to his shutdown mandate.
At his directive, businesses that refuse to shutter should “expect to get a warning call from local prosecutors before the city takes more aggressive action, including turning off their water and power,” the mayor outlined, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Moreover, Garcetti said employers could also be hit with a misdemeanor charge if they continue to serve the public.
“If a nonessential business is refusing to comply with the order, city workers and volunteers from my crisis response team will join the LAPD (Los Angeles Police Department) in obtaining voluntary compliance with our directive,” he said.
“We are ready to deploy these folks, identify businesses that are not doing what they are supposed to, issue initial warnings, and if necessary, share information on occurring noncompliant establishments with LAPD for further enforcement that may result in a referral to the city attorney’s office or citation actions,” he added.
The mayor encouraged L.A. residents to refer businesses that do not comply with his mandate to authorities. “They will wind up facing a misdemeanor charge and DWP will step in to shut off their water and power.”
“You know who you are, you need to stop it,” Garcetti threatened noncompliant business owners. “This is your chance to step up and to shut it down, because if you don’t, we will shut it down.”
Reiterating his plan on social media, Garcetti posted: “Let me be clear: it is unacceptable for non-essential businesses to continue their operations as normal,” he wrote. “I announced the Safer at Home Business Ambassadors Program to help ensure businesses comply with our emergency order to keep our communities safe.”
Let me be clear: it is unacceptable for non-essential businesses to continue their operations as normal.
I announced the Safer at Home Business Ambassadors Program to help ensure businesses comply with our emergency order to keep our communities safe. https://t.co/7eMFdg1PSa
