Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti announced today that testing will be available to asymptomatic workers on the front lines which includes health care professionals, grocery workers, first responders and government personnel.

Garcetti says testing will begin tomorrow after hearing from Gov. Gavin Newsom to encourage testing asymptomatic people. LA County has already provided testing to workers with or without symptoms in nursing homes and nursing facilities and other high risk areas.

While testing is not currently available for everyone, Garcetti explains the importance of having these workers tested.

“I think we all know that we have firefighters and police officers, doctors, nurses, janitors at hospitals, folks that are in grocery stores and pharmacies that are putting themselves out on the line and we want to make sure that they are healthy,” Garcetti said. “That they have the peace of mind of knowing they are healthy and because they interact with so many people that we can make sure they are not spreading.”

Workers are asked to contact their employers on where to get priority testing. People are also able to sign up for testing at coronavirus.lacity.org.

As of today the county has 34 drive-up mobile COVID-19 testing sites available.

There were 1,318 new positive COVID-19 cases reported in LA County today, a 9% increase since yesterday. According to an email from LA City, there have been a total of 71 LA Police Department employees and 20 LA Fire Department members who have tested positive for the coronavirus.

In total, there have been 16,435 reported cases, including 729 deaths in LA County.

Eric Garcetti’s address can be viewed here.