LA County has announced a new three week lockdown that will have all 10 million residents staying home except for ‘essential’ shopping, visiting a doctor or maybe a quick hike at Runyon. COVID-19 infections in California have surged, with LA reporting 4,544 new cases on Friday as residents scrambled to prepare for the new restriction.

The post-Thanksgiving lockdown took effect Friday, and will last until Dec. 20. The hope is that residents will be able to mingle more freely during the Christmas holiday. LA County reported some 4,544 new cases on Friday.

Notably, the new lockdown exempts both protests and religious services, as California liberals have apparently run out of excuses for why protests should be allowed to continue, but not every other type of gathering.

However, all public and private gatherings with individuals outside of one’s own corona-pod will be banned. The new mandate also lowers the headcount allowed in essential retail, non-essential retail, personal care facilities, libraries, outdoor gyms, museums, aquariums, recreational facilities and other businesses.

LA County’s SJW health director Barbara Ferrer told KTLA “we know we are asking a lot from so many who have been sacrificing for months on end and we hope that L.A. County residents continue following Public Health safety measures that we know can slow the spread.”

Some residents complained that the new rules didn’t make sense.

But Ferrer warned that “acting with collective urgency right now is essential if we want to put a stop to this surge…please remain home as much as possible and do not gather with others not in your household for the next three weeks.”

Schools and day camps are also required to close if they have more than three COVID-19 cases, while gatherings at playgrounds, card rooms and outdoor dining restaurants have been banned. Anyone participating in outdoor activity must wear a mask and must be part of the same household. This, despite the large body of evidence suggesting that wearing masks outdoors has no impact on one’s vulnerability to COVID-19.

It usually takes around 2-3 weeks for new restrictions to start translating through to lower case numbers. Considering that it’s the biggest county in the state, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that LA County has the most cases and the most deaths.