Los Angeles reimposes mask wearing due to a rise in Covid-19 cases

it’s been just over a month since the state of California saw a full reopening and a relaxation of restrictions around social distancing and mask-wearing. However, due to an extreme rise in cases Los Angeles County will see mask-wearing becoming mandatory again in indoor spaces regardless of a persons vaccination status.

Like many states and countries, California and specifically Los Angeles County have seen a steady rise in cases. Health Officials made the decision following a 10 day period where daily cases were passing 1000, and also due to the fact that more than 525 people are currently in hospital with the virus. Barbara Ferrer, the county’s public health director, announced the new rules on Thursday and explained the reasoning why when she stated:

“The level of COVID-19 transmission we are currently experiencing is now leading to significant increases in serious illness and hospitalizations, and requires us to take immediate action to prevent erosion of our recovery efforts.”

Aside from the reopening, the highly contagious Covid-19 Delta variant has been blamed as a contributing factor to the rise in cases across the county, as well as some of the population of the county that is reluctant to get vaccinated. The United States has one of the best vaccination rollouts in the world and although there is a wide availability of the vaccine only about 60% of the population has received one dose, with about 52% fully vaccinated.

“There are still plenty of people who are not vaccinated, leading to that dynamic spread of the virus throughout the community. I believe that’s what the challenge is in Los Angeles,” – Dr. Anthony Fauci discussing the new restrictions to CBS

We hope that these restrictions are only temporary and that the county of Los Angeles is back being as normal as it can be again soon.

Image Credit: Watchara Phomicinda, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG