Caleb Lunetta

Santa Clarita Mayor Cameron Smyth delivered a Monday morning address, following additional restrictions announced over the weekend by public health officials. From his office at City Hall via a Facebook live stream, Smyth emphasized that Santa Clarita, which does not have its own department of public health, will be following the state’s guidelines. “Currently in Santa Clarita, we have no plans to follow the city of Los Angeles model,” said Smyth on Monday morning around 10:40 a.m. “We are going to remain in compliance with the direction of the state of California and the county.”

Smyth said Santa Clarita would not be issuing a directive closing gyms, restaurants and places of entertainment much like the City of Los Angeles has done. Additionally, seniors age 65 years and older are being asked to consider home isolation, and while the SCV Senior Center is closed as of Monday, they are continuing their drive thru meal program, Smyth said. Smyth added, though, that people voluntarily closing down their businesses where groups of people can congregate and spread the disease is the “type of leadership that we need.”

As of Monday morning, Smyth said three cases have been confirmed in Santa Clarita, and those people are now recovering at home. “Those who may have contact with these positive cases, either have already or soon will be contacted by the LA County Department of Public Health, and will be asked to quarantine for 14 days,” Smyth said.

“If you are a senior, or have family members that are in that age group, and they want to have access to meals, they can still go to the senior center and pick something up for lunch.” City Hall will remain closed to the public and will only be operating with essential staff, Smyth said, and law enforcement remains operational and at full capacity. The Santa Clarita Valley Water Agency does not anticipate any disruption to local water supply, Smyth said, and restaurants should not exceed 50% capacity in order to maintain social distancing. Echoing the guidelines put out by state and county officials, Smyth said that gatherings of 50 people or more are recommended to be canceled for the next eight weeks. Smyth discussed the importance of keeping in mind neighbors, whether they be seniors or people with mobility issues, that cannot wait in grocery store lines for hours. “Unfortunately, Santa Clarita was featured by some local news about the issue of hoarding at our local stores,” said Smyth. “Please keep in mind … stores are restocking on a regular basis … more is coming and those companies are working hard to replenish their shelves.”

“The expectation from both the state and the city is that we will follow (the guidelines),” said Smyth. “The governor has alluded to, maintaining and retaining enforcement capabilities if these directives are not followed. And that is certainly not something that we would like to see.”

“And so I encourage everybody to follow these guidelines voluntarily because the sooner we do that, the sooner we’ll be able to ‘flatten the curve,’ as they say, and be able to return to a normal life and a normal schedule,” he said.