Inglewood Mayor James T. Butts is taking proactive steps to ensure employees in City Hall do not spread the coronavirus while simultaneously not taking steps to enforce social distancing in city parks.
In an after hours email, Mayor Butts shared with employees that he has acquired an air filtration system that will be located on the 1st floor of City Hall.
Beginning Monday, April 6th, contact nurses will be doing random non-contact Thermometer Temperature Testing of employees. Employees with temperatures at 100.4 or higher will be sent home.
At this time, it is not publicly known whether any city employee has tested positive for COVID-19.
In nearby city of Compton an employee within the city’s water department was not only exposed to a family member with the virus, but according to social media posts of other city employees, the employee has tested positive.
Compton officials have yet to publicly announce the employee as having a positive test. Compton City Hall was initially closed to the public, then re-opened with no restrictions. Compton City Hall has been closed on March 30th and 31st for the Cesar Chavez holiday, despite only being closed one day during previous years.
Social media postings for both Compton and Inglewood depict nail salons being open and sports teams practicing in city parks.
Neither Compton City Manager Craig Cornwell nor Inglewood City Manager Artie Fields responded to requests inquiring how their cities are enforcing the state imposed stay at home mandate, with the closure of non-essential businesses, and no gatherings of more than ten people.
The latest data available by the Los Angeles County Department of Health on March 31st shows 19 positive tests in Compton and 31 in Inglewood.