OAKLAND — Los Angeles County will reinstate indoor mask requirements in public spaces for all this weekend, regardless of vaccination status, amid an alarming rise in Covid-19 cases driven by the Delta variant.
Thursday’s announcement by the nation’s largest county sent a chill through the state just one month into California’s long-awaited reopening. And it could prompt other local health officials to follow suit, complicating the post-pandemic recovery narrative of Gov. Gavin Newsom as he faces a September recall election.
Los Angeles County just over two weeks ago recommended that people wear masks indoors, a step that Sacramento County health officials also took on Thursday and that Yolo County initiated a day earlier.
The rise of the Delta variant has caused case rates to double nationwide over the past three weeks. On Thursday the state reported 3,622 new cases as part of a startling trend in the wake of the state’s June 15 reopening.
While California started from a relatively low level, the trajectory and speed at which the more transmissible Delta variant has spread is sounding alarms and causing public health officials to rethink their infection-control strategies.
“Across the state we are seeing increases in cases,” said Marin County Public Health Officer Matt Willis, who is considering a recommendation for indoor masking, but not a mandate. “All of us right now — public health officers — are sharing the same challenge: What is the next step for us to reduce transmission?”
A steep rise has pushed Los Angeles County’s case rate to 7.1 per 100,000 residents, which puts the region in the “substantial” category of spread, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That would also have put the county in the second-most restrictive tier under the state’s now-retired reopening blueprint.
The new order will go into effect late Saturday, just before midnight.
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As cases of the Covid-19 Delta variant rise, Los Angeles County will reinstate indoor mask requirements this weekend regardless of vaccination status https://t.co/ZEbSG6zUOu
— POLITICO (@politico) July 16, 2021
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