Los Angeles County will continue to require indoor masking to slow the spread of COVID-19, despite the expiration of California’s state-wide indoor mask mandate next week.
“This is not the right time to stop wearing our masks when around others indoors, and in outdoor crowded settings,” said LA County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer, according to KABC News.
The lifting of the statewide mandate was announced Monday by Governor Gavin Newsom, who cited a 65 percent decrease in cases since the peak of Omicron-variant infections.
LA County will not consider the surge over until hospitalizations stay below 2,500 for seven consecutive days, Ferrer said last week.
America’s most populous county will then roll back masking requirements for large outdoor gatherings and outdoor school spaces, but the indoor mask requirement will remain in place until LA is at a case rate of 50 per 100,000 people or less.
The county is at 117 cases per 100,000 people.
Statewide, California will still require unvaccinated people to wear masks in indoor public settings after the expiration of the statewide mandate.
With Post wires