Community Corner

COVID-19 Pandemic Los Angeles Shutdown In Photos: 5 Years Later

It's been 5 years since Covid-19 triggered shutdowns, and the streets, businesses, schools, and freeways of Los Angeles were eerily empty.

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The Pantages theater shuttered in response to the COVID-19 outbreak on March 22, 2020. (Shutterstock)
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Downtown Los Angeles on January, 25 2021. (Elliott Cowand Jr./Shutterstock )

LOS ANGELES, CA — Five years ago this week, Los Angeles schools shut down and Gov. Gavin Newsom issued extraordinary stay-home orders to slow the spread of COVID-19, which had begun spreading and claiming lives in California.

Since then, at least 1 in 280 or nearly 36,000 Los Angeles County residents have died from COVID-19. Even before the loss of lives and the economic, social and mental health toll of the pandemic set in, it was the shutdown with its eerie images of desolate streets and empty freeways, shuttered restauarnts, first responders in hazmat gear and miles-long lines for testing that made the pandemic real for most Angelenos.

Here are the indelible images of the early days of the pandemic that forever changed us.

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Freeway signs telling the public to stay home and avoid gathering during the coronavirus outbreak and pandemic on April 4, 2020. (Shutterstock)
Empty streets in Downtown Los Angeles cause the coronavirus pandemic emergency on March 17, 2020. (Shutterstock)
Police officers oversee a temporary closure of the Santa Monica Pier as part of measures to combat the spread of the coronavirus Monday, March 16, 2020, in Los Angeles. For most people, COVID-19 causes only mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)
Yellow caution tape surrounds a closed children's playground on Venice Beach Boardwalk, Monday, March 23, 2020, in Los Angeles. Venice Beach Boardwalk was officially closed Monday after widespread ignoring of social distancing over the weekend. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)
The marquee for the Hollywood Bowl concert venue bears a coronavirus-related message, Friday, March 27, 2020, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)
Homeless encampments along the roadside depicting the growing epidemic of homelessness amidst the worldwide Covid-19 pandemic on April 08, 2020. (Shutterstock)
Queue at a drive through COVID-19 Testing site in Los Angeles on May 08, 2020. (Shutterstock)
Unidentified Los Angeles residents are admistered with a test for COVID-19 while in their vehicles inside the Crenshaw Christian Center in South Los Angeles Wednesday, March 25, 2020. California virus cases surging, Gov. Gavin Newsom said his stay-at-home order for 40 million Californians may stay in place into May. The new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms for most people, but for some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness or death. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)
In this Monday, March 30, 2020, file photo, triage tents are deployed for a possible surge of emergency COVID-19 patients outside of the Los Angeles County + USC Medical Center in Los Angeles. A health official in California's third largest county is urging hospitals to cancel elective surgeries and implement plans for an onslaught of COVID-19 patients, as intensive care units fill up statewide amid spiking virus cases. Dr. Carl Schultz says ambulances have been waiting for hours to unload patients because Orange County emergency rooms are so backed up. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes, File)
A volunteer loads food into the trunk of a vehicle during a drive thru food distribution by the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank in Glendora, California on December 8, 2020. (Shutterstock)
Line of cars waiting for drive thru Covid-19 vaccine at Dodgers stadium. First day of opening up the vaccine in Los Angeles County to people 65 and older. Some waited over 6 hours on January 20, 2021. (Shutterstock)
Students and parents holding placards in their car protest during a car rally to encourage Los Angeles County to reopen schools during the Coronavirus pandemic on Monday February 15, 2021 in Los Angeles. (Shutterstock)
Empty seats are shown during an NFL football game between the Seattle Seahawks and the Los Angeles Rams, Sunday, Dec. 27, 2020, at Lumen Field in Seattle. Due to the Coronavirus pandemic, no fans were in attendance at the game. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)
Utah tips off against UCLA at an empty Pauley Pavilion amid the coronavirus pandemic, in an NCAA college basketball game Thursday, Dec. 31, 2020, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)
Empty lanes of the 110 Arroyo Seco Parkway that leads to downtown Los Angeles is seen during the coronavirus outbreak in Los Angeles, Calif., on April 26, 2020. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill, File)
The Pantages theater shuttered in response to the COVID-19 outbreak on March 22, 2020. (Shutterstock)
A customer wears a face mask and gloves during the coronavirus outbreak, as he shops at Super King Markets in Los Angeles on Friday, April 3, 2020. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)
A gloved grocery shopper is dismayed over empty shelves at a local Ralphs supermarket in an attempt to stock up on supplies, Friday, March 13, 2020, in the Panorama City section of Los Angeles. Officials said Friday the Los Angeles Unified School District and San Diego school districts will close starting March 16 because of the coronavirus threat. The vast majority of people recover from the new coronavirus. According to the World Health Organization, most people recover in about two to six weeks, depending on the severity of the illness. (AP Photo/Richard Vogel)
In this April 10, 2020, file photo, Rev. Nicolas Sanchez takes a phone call from a parishioner after live-streaming the Good Friday Mass without parishioners due to COVID-19 at St. Patrick's Catholic Church in Los Angeles. Now, in early May 2021, California has the lowest case rate in the country. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes, File)
In this April 9, 2020 photo, a health worker administers a coronavirus test at a drive-through testing site organized by actor Sean Penn's nonprofit organization Community Organized Relief Effort (CORE) at Malibu City Hall in Malibu, Calif. The Oscar winner's disaster relief organization has teamed up with Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti’s office and the city’s fire department to safely distribute free drive-through COVID-19 test sites for those with qualifying symptoms. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)
Los Angeles City Hall is seen lit up in blue framed by the Twin Dragon Gateway in Chinatown neighborhood of Los Angeles, Saturday, April 19, 2020. This landmark and several others around L.A., and the nation, are lit up blue to show support for medical workers and first responders on the front lines of the coronavirus pandemic. Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti says thousands of city workers must take 26 furlough days, or the equivalent of a 10 percent pay cut, over the next fiscal year as the city deals with the economic fallout from the coronavirus crisis. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)
Comedians Tehran Von Ghasri, left, and Craig Robinson perform together onstage during a "Laughter is Healing" stand-up comedy livestream event at the Laugh Factory, Monday, April 20, 2020, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)
Counter protesters block a street during a rally calling for an end to California Gov. Gavin Newsom's stay-at-home orders amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Wednesday, April 22, 2020, outside of City Hall in downtown Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)
Spectators watch bioluminescent plankton light up the shoreline as they churn in the waves at Dockweiler State Beach during the coronavirus outbreak, Wednesday, April 29, 2020, in Los Angeles, Calif. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
In this May 8, 2020, file photo, Spencer Kelly, dressed as the grim reaper, demonstrates in favor of the stay-at-home order during the coronavirus pandemic at the pier in Huntington Beach, Calif. The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health is ordering L.A. County beaches closed from July 3 through July 6 at 5:00 a.m. to prevent dangerous crowding that results in the spread of deadly COVID-19. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson, File)
Street seller Jaime Caldera, originally from San Antonio, Texas, offers face masks for sale in Los Angeles Thursday, May 14, 2020. Leaving home in Los Angeles now requires bringing a face covering, part of the price for reopening more businesses and activities in America's second-largest city, which is moving cautiously as less-populated areas of California press ahead. The mask rule is the same in surrounding Los Angeles County, which has emerged as California's epicenter for the virus. The county has a quarter of California's nearly 40 million people but more than half of its more than 3,000 virus deaths. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)
In this May 15, 2020, file photo, a couple salute the United States Air Force Thunderbirds who fly over downtown Los Angeles to honor frontline COVID-19 responders at Griffith Park in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello, File)
Dine-in customers look at menus as dining booths are taped off for social distancing at Mariscos Linda restaurant, Wednesday, July 1, 2020, in Los Angeles. California Gov. Gavin Newsom has ordered a three-week closure of bars and indoor operations of restaurants certain other businesses in Los Angeles and 18 other counties. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Lydia Nunez father Samuel Nunez, center, in black cries next to her casket during a funeral for Nunez, who died from COVID-19, at the Metropolitan Baptist Church Tuesday, July 21, 2020, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)
With the seats in Dodger Stadium empty, Los Angeles Dodgers starting pitcher Julio Urias throws the ball to a San Francisco Giants batter during the third inning of a baseball game Sunday, July 26, 2020, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Nancy Kuo, top left, and Manoela Wunder, of the musical duo Masked Strings, perform a concert for their neighborhood, Sunday, Aug. 30, 2020, in the Atwater Village section of Los Angeles. Kuo and Wunder have been performing as the Masked Strings since May, and perform socially distanced events in addition to their own concerts, since the coronavirus pandemic has prevented them from getting regular music gigs. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)
A sign points to a mask mandate at the Grand Central Market, Monday, Nov. 16, 2020, in Los Angeles. Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Monday, Nov. 16, 2020, that due to the rise of COVID-19 cases, some counties have been moved to the state's most restrictive set of rules, which prohibit indoor dining. The new rules begin Tuesday, Nov. 17. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)
Long lines of motorists wait to take a coronavirus test at Dodger Stadium, Wednesday, Nov. 18, 2020, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Ringo H.W. Chiu)
California Gov. Gavin Newsom looks on, far right, as ICU nurse Helen Cordova receives the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine at Kaiser Permanente Los Angeles Medical Center in Los Angeles, Monday, Dec. 14, 2020. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
In this Dec. 22, 2020, file photo, registered nurse Dania Lima, right, helps fellow nurse Adriana Volynsky put on her personal protective equipment in a COVID-19 unit at Providence Holy Cross Medical Center in the Mission Hills section of Los Angeles. Despite pandemic restrictions, the California legislature managed to pass hundreds of bills in 2020, including one that requires hospitals to maintain three-month supply of personal protective equipment, such as masks and gloves and supply it to endangered employees. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)
FILE - In this Jan. 9, 2021, file photo, Chaplain Kristin Michealsen holds the hand of a deceased COVID-19 patient while talking on the phone with the patient's family member at Providence Holy Cross Medical Center in the Mission Hills section of Los Angeles. "I have never seen this much of death and suffering," said Michealsen, who has been a chaplain for 13 years. "I often tell families that I'm holding their loved one's hand when they can't and that I am with them when they are dying when they can't be." (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)
his Jan. 12, 2021, file photo provided by the LA County Dept. of Medical Examiner-Coroner shows National Guard members assisting with processing COVID-19 deaths and placing them into temporary storage at LA County Medical Examiner-Coroner Office in Los Angeles. Just a few months ago, California was the epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic in the U.S. Now as cases spike in other parts of the country, California has gone from worst to first with the lowest infection rate in the U.S. even as it moves toward a broader reopening of its economy. (LA County Dept. of Medical Examiner-Coroner via AP, File)
Andrew White III receives a COVID-19 vaccine from registered nurse Rhoda Ang at a vaccination site set up in the parking lot of the Los Angeles Mission in the Skid Row area of Los Angeles, Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2021. The vaccine was administered by Los Angeles Department of Health's Housing for Health division for selected individuals, including homeless seniors. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Arsenio Hall, left, Danny Trejo and Magic Johnson pose for a photo after they all got COVID-19 vaccine shots on the rooftop of a parking structure at the University of Southern California as a part of a vaccination awareness event at USC, Wednesday, March 24, 2021, in Los Angeles. (Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times via AP, Pool)

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