July 16, 2021 – Last month, Los Angeles County and California celebrated a long-awaited reopening, marking the progress made in the battle against COVID-19 by lifting virtually all restrictions on businesses and other public spaces.
Since then, virus cases have surged, prompting Los Angeles County officials to issue new mask-wearing mandates. Starting Saturday night, residents will again be required to wear masks in indoor public spaces, regardless of their vaccination status.
The latest order not only puts the county further at odds with both the California Department of Public Health and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) — both of which continue to maintain that vaccinated people need not cover their faces indoors — but puts officials in the precarious position of asking the inoculated to forfeit one of the benefits recently enjoyed.
Officials have stressed that those who have been inoculated have an excellent chance of being protected, even from the easily spread Delta variant, believed to be twice as transmissible as the conventional coronavirus strains. The new order comes a little more than two weeks after the county recommended the same protocols as a precaution.
The order will continue to allow indoor restaurant dining, although people will need to keep their masks on when they’re not eating or drinking.
L.A. County’s rise in community transmission has accelerated dramatically since California fully reopened on June 15. For the weeklong period that ended that day, L.A. County averaged 173 new coronavirus cases a day.
For the seven-day period that ended Wednesday, the county’s average was 1,077 new cases a day. On Thursday, the county reported 1,537 additional cases.