City Expands COVID-19 Care Kit Initiative To South LA And LA's Eastside
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) — Mayor Eric Garcetti and Councilwoman Monica Rodriguez announced Monday the city is expanding its COVID-19 care kit initiative.
The initiative, which has been distributing supplies in the northeast San Fernando Valley, will now be expanded citywide, starting with multi-generational households in South Los Angeles and the Eastside of Los Angeles, Garcetti said.
The kits include masks, hand sanitizer, disinfectant and public health information and are distributed by the Los Angeles Fire Department.
"For families with a member who is working right now in essential jobs -- whether that's in a hospital, or providing food to us in a grocery store, whether it's childcare - these multi-generational households they often live in are the most vulnerable to the spread, in fact, probably the place where we see the most spread," Garcetti said.
According to Garcetti, Volunteer L.A. and the American Red Cross assisted the city in the initiative's expansion.
Rodriguez, who represents the northeast San Fernando Valley, called her district "the epicenter for where COVID is spreading at a rapid pace."
"In my district alone, in the communities of Pacoima and Sylmar, we're seeing upwards of 30,000 cases active in the northeast San Fernando Valley ... It was as the result of those numbers that my office has been assembling COVID care kits, providing critical resources to those many times crowded multi-generational households," Rodriguez said.
"I want to thank the American Red Cross and of course my very good friend and partner Mayor Garcetti for helping to expand this effort citywide, because we know it's not just the northeast San Fernando Valley where families are experiencing these difficulties," she said.
The Los Angeles Fire Department distributed the kits in the northeast valley while responding to households with COVID-19 patients.
Garcetti said firefighters will distribute the kits to homes when they pick someone up for medical transport, even if the patient doesn't have COVID-19.
"That's one of the best ways to stop that outbreak ... by leaving behind disinfectant, hand sanitizer, masks and information that can empower families to make sure that they don't become part of the spread and that they save the lives of their family members," Garcetti said.
(© Copyright 2020 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. City News Service contributed to this report.)