L.A. pet grooming services, car washes can reopen, Garcetti says

L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti announced that pet grooming and training services as well as all car washes would be allowed to open immediately.

Customers can drop off and pick up their pets outside the store, but like other retail shops only employees will be allowed to enter the building, Garcetti said.

Mobile pet grooming services must follow physical distancing protocol, he added. The mayor reiterated the importance of staying home, practicing social distancing, hand washing and wearing face coverings.

“The more that you keep your physical distance, the quicker we’ll be able to return to even more spaces,” he said, adding that studies indicate that the virus’ spread could be slowed just from people covering their faces in public.

On average, he said, the city has had about 940 cases each day for the last seven days.

But while the number of cases is staying steady, Tuesday marked “the second-highest number of deaths that we have seen.”

“So anybody who thinks we are out of the woods we are not,” Garcetti said.

Los Angeles County officials’ newest goal is to more fully reopen the economy by July 4, officials said Tuesday.

The mission is to safely reopen retail businesses, restaurants and malls. But getting there will be slow going.

“We have to do a lot of things right so we can actually get to that date,” L.A. County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said. “I think the reality is that we are going to really aim together to get there as quickly as possible, but we’re going to pay attention to the data and science.”