Will there be a new covid mask mandate in LA? What about the rest of California?
The nation’s most populous county is considering reintroducing indoor mask-wearing rules to combat a spike in coronavirus cases and hospitalisations.
Los Angeles County is currently considering reintroducing mask mandates indoors as covid-19 cases and hospitalisation have risen.
The move would be a hugely significant one after a general shift away from coronavirus restrictions throughout 2022. One year ago local officials became the first south Californian county to introduce the same mandatory public indoor masking to address the case surge brought about by the Delta variant.
The LA Times reports that Los Angeles County is close to introducing the same measure this year, although no other county is currently thought to be considering a return to face coverings. The county, and regions like the Bay Area in particular, are expected to be disproportionately affected by a new wave of cases.
LA has around 10 million residents, by far the most of any American county, and the housing conditions have caused concern about the pace of spread. The high price of property in the area contributed to overcrowding, while LA has the highest rate of poverty and lowest median household income on south California’s coastal counties.
When will LA officials decide on the new mask mandate?
On Thursday LA County officially entered into a period of high community transmission of coronavirus, which signifies both that case numbers are high and that the spread of the virus is starting to affect hospitals’ efficiency.
Guidance from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggests that universal indoor public masking is required when a county reaches the high covid-19 community level. If it remains at this level for the next two weeks then officials will take action and reissue an indoor mask mandate, to start on Friday 29 July.
So far, LA County is the only one in California to have publically tied mask-wearing requirements to the CDC’s scale of community infection levels. There are 41 other counties in the state who are at a high level of infection this week.
In a statement Dr Clayton Chau, director of the OC Health Care Agency, explained: “We are seeing a summer wave in cases and hospitalizations, and this move to the ‘high’ transmission level confirms that.”
He continued: “To protect those at high risk, we are recommending that OC residents continue masking in public, indoor settings, especially those who are at high risk or living with loved ones who have comorbidities, are immunocompromised or are prone to getting sick.”