The threat of infection by the deadly coronavirus has not been enough for some Los Angeles residents who continue to throw crowded parties despite strict rules that limit the number of people in the room and require “social distance”.
And then the city authorities decided to apply stricter measures to violators. Mayor Eric Garcetti announced that he had given utility companies permission to cut off electricity and water from houses where such parties are held. “After the bars were closed for quarantine, these house parties with a large number of guests turned into a kind of nightclubs,” the mayor’s office said in a statement.
According to doctors, such parties are the main reason for the surge in coronavirus infections in Los Angeles and other parts of California in recent weeks. Among members of the age group from 19 to 29 years, the number of cases of coronavirus has quadrupled since June 9, and among members of the age group from 30 to 49 years, it has tripled. “When people gather at such parties, it is almost impossible to prevent the spread of the virus,” said the head of the city’s department of public health Barbara Ferrer. She referred to thousands of complaints from residents in neighboring houses that her department receives every week. “Without excluding this transmission channel of the virus, we will not be able to get out of the pandemic quickly enough,” Ferrer said.
In addition to cutting off the water and electricity supply, punishment for violators of the order provides for large fines and even imprisonment for repeated violations. True, Ferrer admitted, shutting off utilities is not always an effective measure, since parties are often held in vacant houses or in houses rented for a short term for one or two days.