Until there is a vaccine or effective treatment, COVID-19 will continue to be a serious public health threat to our communities, our city, and our country.

The City of Los Angeles will take a gradual and staged approach to our response to this crisis — working with leaders across the region and continuing to be guided by expertise from County, State, and Federal public health officials. This approach will enable us to slowly lift restrictions while carefully monitoring risks and needs, and adjusting our approach as needed.

The gradual relaxing of restrictions will require the patience, persistence and partnership of residents, businesses, workers, government representatives, and public health officials.

It’s not possible to offer a date yet, but one thing is clear: We have a long road ahead, and we will get through this challenging time together.

To learn more about the public health indicators that will drive decision-making over the coming year, see the Safer L.A. website.

Mayor Garcetti has also identified six factors that must be in place for Los Angeles to move toward a reopening. Some of these steps are already underway, but not at the scale necessary to restore a version of our previous lives. We also need to take these steps in a way that keeps us prepared and guards against future waves of COVID-19.

1. Widespread, rapid testing. We need to bring widespread, rapid testing to everyone with COVID-19 symptoms — and testing for asymptomatic people in settings with significant risks of transmission. There should be strong national standards for the quality and reliability of tests, and federal financial support and coverage requirements to guarantee supplies are affordable and available.

2. Real-time monitoring to detect and prevent new outbreaks. We need to link test results to a monitoring network — so that COVID-19 can be tracked in real time, and we can quickly detect new hotspots, track the success of interventions, and keep Americans informed. Federal support through the CDC should enable this to happen, with funds for state and local monitoring paired with electronic data sharing.

3. Rapid responses to new cases. We need a greater ability to quickly isolate cases, trace and communicate with contacts, and quarantine non-immune individuals who have been exposed to COVID-19. This will require rapid training and repurposing some workers into urgently needed new jobs. According to one estimate, we need 300,000 Americans to stand up a complete tracking and tracing infrastructure.

4. Hospital capacity. We need a national push to grow the capacity in ICUs, emergency rooms, and supplies for anywhere that the next wave of COVID-19 might strike.

5. Ongoing research and development. We need the CDC and other agencies to support standardized data collection and to collaborate more closely with states, universities, and labs to develop effective treatments and learn more about them in practice — and then help share this information with doctors and nurses on the front lines.

6. Blood testing. Blood testing for immunity can help identify Americans who could serve in workplaces, classrooms, and roles that may otherwise create significant risk of transmission. The existing antibody tests aren’t good enough yet. We need a better ability to measure antibodies and understand how test results translate into actual immunity.