By Dan Whitcomb
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said on Thursday that he turned down an offer to work in the administration of President-elect Joe Biden so he can focus on the city as coronavirus cases rise.
Garcetti, who has been mentioned as a possible candidate for Secretary of Transportation in a Biden administration, said that with COVID-19 cases surging in America’s second-largest city he felt he needed to stay on as mayor.
“There were things on the table for me but I said to (the Biden administration) very clearly … I need to be here now,” Garcetti said during a live-streamed news conference.
Garcetti, who is quarantining at home after his daughter tested positive for a COVID-19 infection, said that Wednesday saw the highest number of cases and deaths in America’s second-largest city
“We expect to have more dead bodies than we have spaces for them,” the mayor said. “That frightens me and it should frighten you.”
(Reporting by Dan Whitcomb; Editing by Himani Sarkar)
