WEST HOLLYWOOD─The city of West Hollywood proclaimed a local emergency in response to the novel Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) public health emergency. According to the city of West Hollywood, a Resolution with this proclamation was added to the West Hollywood City Council agenda as an Urgency Item and was approved during its regular meeting on Monday, March 16.

The proclamation enhances the city’s ability to access emergency resources at the state and federal level to assist with its novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) response. A Memorandum to the City Council with this Urgency Item and related draft Resolution are available online: https://weho.granicus.com/MetaViewer.php?view_id=16&event_id=1184&meta_id=185599.

“The declaration of a local emergency is an essential step at this time in helping the City of West Hollywood respond to novel coronavirus,” said West Hollywood Mayor John D’Amico. “This declaration allows our City to access state and federal resources as we continue to coordinate our response with direction from health officials at the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health. Our focus now continues to be doing our part to flatten the curve of disease progression. As a City, we’ve taken extraordinary steps to cancel or postpone non-essential events and meetings and we’re doing everything we can to safeguard the health of people in our community. Please continue to remain calm and take care of yourselves and each other. Follow guidance from L.A. County Public Health and the CDC. As I mentioned a few days ago, we’ve seen our community navigate the global HIV/AIDS pandemic and we will get through this if we follow guidelines. Let’s keep doing this the WeHo way, with kindness and empathy.”

The West Hollywood City Council approved two related Urgency Items:

The first item being a temporary moratorium on evictions for non-payment of rent during the current state of emergency caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. A Memorandum to the City Council with this Urgency Item and related draft Urgency Ordinance is available online: https://weho.granicus.com/MetaViewer.php?view_id=16&event_id=1184&meta_id=185597.

The second item is emergency supportive services in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and allows the City Manager authorization to direct a variety of services. A Memorandum to the City Council with this Urgency Item is available online: https://weho.granicus.com/MetaViewer.php?view_id=16&event_id=1184&meta_id=185595.

To slow the rate of transmission of COVID-19, the city of West Hollywood is spreading news via Los Angeles County which has ordered all bars, clubs, gyms, theatres, bowling alleys, arcades, and entertainment venues closed and restaurants are required to end dine-in service and provide take out or delivery service only. This includes West Hollywood.

The city implemented an emergency management plan ensuring continuity of business operations while providing flexibility to city employees to work remotely in order to ensure employee safety and respond to the family obligations of staff in balancing city business. Effective immediately, West Hollywood City Hall will be closed to the public and is suspending all in-person transactions. All public City buildings and facilities will be closed.

City parks will remain open, but members of the public should follow social distancing guidelines of at least six feet of separation, staying home if ill, washing hands often, and covering all coughs or sneezes. City Hall will remain accessible for business and essential services with transactions to be conducted by phone (323) 848-6400 and via the city’s website at www.weho.org.

On March 12, the city implemented a number of actions through June 30, 2020, including postponing or cancelling all non-essential events and meetings, including city-sponsored events, city co-sponsored events, and city-funded events — as well as any events or filming that require a permit. The city of West Hollywood’s decision to cancel and postpone events and meetings is a precautionary measure in response to public health recommendations for social distancing.

West Hollywood will post updates on its website at www.weho.org/coronavirus and is encouraging community members to follow @wehocity on Twitter and Facebook and Instagram and turn on notifications for up-to-date information regarding details in the City of West Hollywood.

To view essential-business City meetings, tune in to WeHoTV at:

  • www.weho.org/wehotv
  • www.youtube.com/wehotv
  • Spectrum Channel 10 (in West Hollywood)
  • AT&T U-verse Channel 99 (in Southern California)
  • SmartTV Apps: AndroidTV; AppleTV; FireTV; and Roku

For notifications by email, subscribe to the City’s E-Notifications at www.weho.org/email. Visit the city’s event and meetings calendar at www.weho.org/calendar and news archive at www.weho.org/news.

For updates and information about the current numbers of COVID-19 cases in the U.S. and in Los Angeles County, the spread of the virus, severity, treatments, precautions, and other important public health information in multiple languages, visit websites for:

www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html

For reporters and members of the media seeking additional information about COVID-19 in Los Angeles County, contact the LA County Department of Public Health Chief Communications Officer, Carl A. Kemp, at (213) 240-8144 or media@ph.lacounty.gov.