Nithya RamanVerified account

When hospitalizations peaked in April, we were on lockdown. After a couple weeks of decline we began reopening, starting with curbside retail. Then on 5/29, the Mayor announced that restaurants could open for indoor and outdoor dining at the same time -- with only hours' notice.

LA took a MUCH different approach than other cities. San Francisco announced the opening of outdoor dining weeks in advance — and said indoor dining would come weeks after that. They still haven’t reopened it. Neither has New York. Both cities have seen very few new cases.

It’s not clear that many workers benefited financially from LA’s reopening. Those who were getting boosted unemployment payments — some making more than they did at their jobs — became ineligible for those payments once they had the opportunity to work again.

Did businesses benefit from reopening quickly? They’re now paying employees, but many are seeing fewer customers. Bars and restaurants, recently closed for indoor dining, spent money to reopen fast and then shut down again. Would they have been better off with more time to plan?

The messaging has left me confused. We’re told not to visit family, but we can patronize restaurants? We’re told we need to wear masks, but bars were opened — how do you drink a beer with a mask on? The only consistent message we’ve heard is this: any rise in cases is our fault.

LA’s leaders have told us we’ve “flunked” the reopening. That we’ve been irresponsible. That we’re to blame for our own suffering. They threw open doors for us to meet in indoor spaces, with virtually no notice each time, and then told us it was our fault for gathering in them.

We’ve also been told that protests lead to higher cases. But other cities had protests. New York and San Francisco had massive ones. Neither has seen the rising cases LA has. LA’s spike doesn’t match cities with protests. It matches cities that aggressively reopened business.

We are now being told by our leaders to stay home. To avoid gathering in groups, especially indoors. But retail, gyms, salons, and restaurants are operating. Working people don’t have the option to stay home. Those same leaders took that option away.

As the pandemic in LA rages, testing sites do not have the capacity to meet demand. Appointment slots are scarce, and results can take days to come back. That means workers will not be able to find out if they’re spreading the disease asymptomatically before they go to work.

Like most people, I’m desperate for quarantine to end. But I also want to ensure that all Angelenos are safe -- and have the ability to choose to stay safe. Right now, so many do not have that choice.