LOS ANGELES (Washington Insider Magazine) – This week, Los Angeles County abandoned its attempt to enact a mandatory universal indoor mask requirement. According to a leading health authority, hospitalization rates and 19 infections have stabilized.
According to standards established by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, health director Barbara Ferrer stated two weeks ago that if rises in hospital admissions continued, the country’s most populated county may once again mandate facial coverings.
She said that the county avoided having the wide mask restriction imposed on Thursday. The county’s community transmission level is still at “high,” according to the CDC, although it may decline to “medium” in the upcoming weeks.
Ferrer made the declaration at a briefing when she showed graphs of flat and falling data. She claimed that from July 23, transmission has decreased gradually, possibly indicating the start of a decline in cases. Also declining are hospitalizations.
Although most interior locations won’t require masks, Ferrer warned locals that face coverings are still a useful tool for preventing spread.
According to ABC NEWS, LA County will continue to demand masks in select interior locations, such as healthcare institutions, buses and Metro trains, prisons, airports, and homeless shelters, as it did for the majority of the pandemic.
The restriction would have been extended to all indoor public areas, including manufacturing sites, shared workspaces, retail outlets, warehouses, bars and restaurants, schools, and theaters, under the new rule, which would have taken effect on Friday.
The most recent COVID-19 outbreak across the country is being driven by the highly transmissible BA.5 variation, which currently makes up the bulk of infections. It has demonstrated a remarkable capacity to circumvent the defense provided by immunization.
What could have happened to enforce the health directive is still a mystery. Prior regulations prohibited the citation of anybody for refusing to wear a mask, and authorities preferred to educate people over finding and citing them.
A new mask requirement has drawn criticism from some who don’t think it would reduce or end transmission rates. Because unenforceable requirements don’t work, Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger expressed her satisfaction with Ferrer’s declaration.
The health departments in the LA County cities of Pasadena and Long Beach largely follow LA County regulations. not this time though. This week, both cities said that they would not implement face-covering laws.
And on Monday, the Beverly Hills City Council overwhelmingly decided not to enact a county-imposed mask mandate.
