Prognosis

Reopened Los Angeles Sleepwalks Into Peril of Resurgent Pandemic

Bars and beaches boomed. The coronavirus did, too

Pedestrians walk through Venice Beach in Los Angeles on Friday.

Photographer: Patrick T. Fallon/Bloomberg
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Los Angeles, land of make-believe, tried for weeks to wish the pandemic away.

Sunny afternoons filled the Venice Beach Boardwalk with skaters, joggers and bikers — some with masks, but more without. Barefaced men hawked CDs and offered gloveless high fives to passers-by. Nights brought revelers back to newly reopened bars.