Los Angeles County health officials announced today that gyms, day camps, museums, zoos, campgrounds and various other outdoor recreation facilities will be permitted to reopen Friday, joining other parts of the state in Phase 3. Also allowed to reopen are fitness facilities, pro-league arenas and professional sports without live audiences, galleries, aquariums, RV parks and swimming pools, along with music, film and television production. Hotels, lodging and short-term rentals can also resume operations.

For those reading the fine print, today’s briefing came as Los Angeles was one of nine counties placed on a watch list by California health officials concerned about their ability to contain COVID-19 spread amid reopening plans.

Perhaps what Dr. Ferrer and the Health Department need is a little perspective before they go charging forward. In the San Francisco Bay area, there is considerable debate about “too much, too soon” as well as disproportionate COVID-19 case burdens. Our comparison graph below (Figure 1), however, shows that the City of San Francisco is in a far better position than Los Angeles to reopen. Here in Los Angeles, we have a 340% higher daily case rate than San Francisco.