Los Angeles County May Reinstate Mask Mandate, Health Director Says
LOS ANGELES, Calif. (FLV) – Los Angeles Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer announced a potential mask mandate due to the rising number of COVID-19 cases.
Ferrer reported that there has been an 85% increase from the seven-day average of nearly 1,500 new COVID-19 cases reported per day as of Nov. 17, with a case rate of 185 per 100,000 people. Before then, the rate was 86 per 100,000 residents.
“There is this common line of thinking that the pandemic is over and COVID is no longer of concern but these numbers clearly demonstrate that covid is still with us,” said Ferrer.
Ferrer explained that LA county moved from the low community level to medium, and the COVID-19 hospital admission rate is what pushed them to the level increase. The hospitalization admission is at almost 12 per 100,000 people. The proportion in staffed inpatient beds occupied by COVID patients also increased from 3% on Nov. 17 to 5.6% in early December.
“We do continue to see small but consistent increases for this indicator,” Ferrer explained.
The health director said that moving into the medium community level won’t cause changes to the required mitigation strategies that LA County is using for COVID-19. In order to move into the high level, which they expect to see as soon as next week if the upward trends continue, they would need to see a case rate of 200 per 100,000 residents.
Ferrer said that LA County will follow the CDC guidance for communities designated at the high community level, including universal indoor mask mandates if both hospital indicators, the new COVID admissions, and the proportion of staffed inpatient beds occupied by COVID patients surpasses the threshold for high and their case rate is at or above 200 new cases per 100,000 people.
In 2021, Gov. Ron DeSantis issued an executive order in response to several Florida school boards considering or implementing mask mandates after the Biden Administration issued recommendations that school-aged children wear masks.
DeSantis claimed that the CDC guidance lacked a well-grounded scientific justification. A Brown University study analyzed COVID-19 data for schools in Florida and found no correlation with mask mandates and masking children could lead to negative health and societal ramifications. The Florida law gives parents the freedom and right to decide whether their children should wear masks in school and the state will not have mask mandates.
Florida Surgeon General Joseph Lapado has stood with DeSantis’ pandemic policies and is against mask mandates. He said there has never been any evidence of masks causing a meaningful difference.
“We’re not recommending it here in Florida. And we just have to make decisions like this when the CDC unfortunately has become politicized and is not making decisions that are reflecting the highest quality evidence,” Lapado said.
