Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said he believes the city reopened too quickly, citing that orders from the state superseded his.

“I think a lot of people don’t often understand mayors often don’t have control over what opens up and doesn’t,” Garcetti told CNN in an interview Sunday. “That’s either at a state or county level and I do agree that those things happened too quickly.”

The questioning came after California Governor Gavin Newsom and the state of California were said to have started reopening phases while 17 counties did not yet meet the state’s COVID-19 contact tracing requirements. 

Garcetti then doubled down on an earlier statement that Los Angeles was “on the brink” of reverting back to the stay-at-home orders which forced mass business closures in March.

Garcetti tweeted that the spread of COVID-19 was at a high risk level in Los Angeles.

If the risk level reaches red on the COVID-19 spread chart, Garcetti has said the city would revive its stricter stay-at-home orders. 

As of Sunday, Los Angeles County has seen 155,887 positive COVID-19 cases, with the majority coming from the 18-40 age group. Sunday also saw 2,216 new COVID-19 hospitalizations in the county, reaching more than 2,100 for the fifth consecutive day.

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