Advertisement
Supported by
The company’s chief executive, Dov Charney, had arranged a professional comeback making masks. Four died from the virus.
By Vanessa Friedman
In mid-March, as coronavirus spread in New York, Washington, California, and New Jersey and the shortage crisis of non-public protective appliances grew, Dov Charney of Los Angeles Apparel was one of the first clothing stores to introduce the void.
Reopening his Los Angeles plant to produce face masks, Mr. Charney, the former CEO of American Apparel who overthrew amid accusations of embezzlement and deliberately authorized sexual harassment, went from being an industry out paria to being champion.
Los Angeles Apparel, their new company, was considered a key business. The federal government has a client, Charney said. The long road to redemption seemed, suddenly, much shorter.
But on July 10, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health ordered the closure of Mr. Charney’s production plant: an investigation revealed that more than three hundred showed infections among clothing personnel and four deaths. Three of the deaths occurred in June and one in July.
In a press release detailing the closure, the fitness branch cited “serious violations of public orders for physical fitness infection” and the lack of “cooperating with the DPH investigation into a COVID-19 outbreak.”
It was one of the first forced closures of a plant in Los Angeles due to coronavirus-related outbreaks, according to Jan King, regional fitness manager for South and West Los Angeles. Although the Department of Health conducts many researches, they are resolved through actions with the corporations involved.
“Business owners and operators have the corporate, ethical and social duty of their painters and their families to provide a confident painting environment that complies with all the rules of fitness painters: this duty is more vital than ever as we continue to fight this fatal virus.” Barbara Ferrer, director of the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health. Arrange information about the closure, which contained a schedule for the investigation.
Advertising