Earlier today, California officials announced the state would allow vaccinated residents to be unmasked in most indoor public spaces beginning next week. Local jurisdictions are allowed to be more stringent with their requirements, however, and it looks like Los Angeles County will be forging its own path on masks.
Not long after the state announcement, according to multiple reports the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health indicated that the local mask mandate would not be lifted. Deadline reached out to the LACDPH, but did not immediately hear back.
Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer on Thursday outlined a set of conditions that would have to be met for the region to relax its health office order. The state’s announcement today apparently did not change those stipulations.
“This is not the right time to stop wearing our masks indoors and in crowded outdoor settings,” said Ferrer.
She said the post-surge trigger for easing some restrictions would be when virus-related hospitalizations fall below 2,500 for seven straight days. They currently clock in at 2,773, a sizable drop from 3,398 on Thursday. That easing would not include indoor masking, however. It would only be for masking at large outdoor events.
Once hospitalizations fall below 2,500 for seven straight days, the county will no longer require masks at outdoor mega-events, such as sporting events — such as this weekend’s Super Bowl — and concerts with over 5,000 attendees, or in outdoor spaces at schools and child-care facilities.
Masks will still be required at indoor events, inside businesses such as restaurants and gyms and in TK-12 schools. One would assume movie theaters and TV and film production would also be on that list.
The next reduction in L.A. County’s mandated Covid interventions would come when the region has two consecutive weeks at or below moderate transmission as defined by the CDC and “there are no emerging reports of significantly circulating new variants of concern that threaten vaccine effectiveness.” The CDC bar for moderate transmission is when a region averages less than 50 cases per 100,000 over 7 days. As of today, according to state stats, the county’s 7-day average case rate was 117.3 per 100,000 residents, down from 193 cases per 100,000 residents for the week ending January 31.
It is unclear if, when moderate transmission rate is achieved, indoor masking requirements are among those requirements that will be lifted.