Los Angeles County is prepared to reinstate a universal indoor mask mandate starting on Friday, unless COVID-19 infections and rates of hospitalizations drop dramatically in the next few days.
Los Angeles County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said on Tuesday, July 26, the county is seeing declines in all of its major COVID-19 metrics, including slowing case numbers and falling hospitalizations.
Ferrer said given the improvements, “we may be positioned to pause the implementation of universal masking,” but such a determination will not be made until Thursday, July 28.
If the hospital admission rate of new COVID-19 patients falls by Thursday, near to the rate of 10 per 100,000 residents, it would “trigger a reassessment on the need to re-implement an indoor masking mandate.” As of last Thursday, the rate was 11.7 new admissions per 100,000 residents. She noted a stabilization in the number of virus-related deaths, with 14 fatalities on average per day.
COVID-19 patients in hospitals in the county totaled 1,286, lower than the 1,299 reported last Tuesday. “We may be in a position to pause the imposition of indoor masking,” Ferrer said Tuesday.
She reported the average number of new cases was 6,100, a decrease from last week’s average of about 6,700 in the county.
The seven-day positivity rate is slightly more than 14%, which is below the state average.
Requiring masks indoors is designed to help slow the rate of transmission of the coronavirus during the current surge, while protecting the most vulnerable population, including essential workers and the elderly, Ferrer said in her report to the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors.
Masks are still mandated in some indoor spaces — health care facilities, transit hubs, airports, correctional facilities, shelters and on transit vehicles. The universal indoor masking requirement would expand existing rules to include all indoor spaces — including shared office spaces, retail spaces, and the interiors of restaurants and bars. Masks wouldn’t be required in outdoor areas or for those under 2 years old, Ferrer explained.
In a written statement issued Monday, Supervisor Kathryn Barger opposed the mandate saying she has not seen hard evidence that mask mandates help stem the spread of COVID-19.
“An analysis of Alameda County’s June 2022 masking mandate, in fact, concluded it had no significant impact in comparison to its surrounding counties that did not impose a masking mandate. Alameda County dropped this mandate after only three weeks,” Barger wrote in an open letter to her Fifth District constituents.
At the meeting, Barger insisted she is not an anti-masker. In fact, she recently wore her mask on an airplane when mostly everyone else on board did not, she said. Educating people about the protection masks provide for both the wearer and others nearby is more beneficial than a government mandate, she said.
“Masking is not only a way to protect yourself but for protecting others,” Barger said. “I am adamantly opposed to mandating. I truly believe it will have the opposite effect.”
The Los Angeles County Business Federation, or BizFed, issued a statement last week also opposing a mask-wearing mandate, saying it will put undue burden on small businesses that will have to enforce the requirement.
This week, Beverly Hills announced it will not enforce an indoor mask mandate.
Also the California Fitness Alliance’s board of directors asked Ferrer to hold off on an indoor mask mandate. If she doesn’t do so, they asked that she exclude indoor recreational sports, gyms and studios while participants engage in heavy physical exertion.
Although dozens of counties in California are also in the “high” virus-activity category, Los Angeles is the only one considering a mask mandate.
Ferrer is concerned that high transmission rates from the more contagious BA.5 variant means more people getting seriously ill. “I am really worried about this much unfettered transmission that will lead to tragically more deaths,” she told the board. “How much death do you want to tolerate before you ask people to put their masks back on?”
She reported a 76% increase in workplace clusters from a month ago. “The spread at workplaces is fueled by the high spread in the community,” she explained.
The average number of daily deaths in the county has not gone up this week but remained stable at about 14 per day, Ferrer reported.
Supervisor Janice Hahn suggested that the county not impose the universal mask mandate, saying it will become divisive. Instead, Hahn asked that Ferrer only add a mask requirement at grocery stores and pharmacies.
Ferrer, who will make the decision on Thursday to take effect Friday, said she would consider the suggestion after examining the latest data.
If a new mask mandate takes effect, it will remain in place until the county falls back to the “medium” virus-activity category for two weeks.