CDC Eases Indoor Mask-Wearing Guidelines, LA Looking To Make 'Sensible Adjustments'
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) - The Centers For Disease Control And Prevention announced Thursday that fully vaccinated people can stop wearing masks indoors in most places.
In response to the announcement from the CDC, the LA County Health Department said they will review the guidance and make sensible adjustments to our local mask mandate. But they cautioned it is not going to be an easy adjustment.
"It's manageable to figure out who is vaccinated," said Dr. Barbara Ferrer, LA County health director. "In a workforce or large venues like concerts with vaccination only sections. it's a very different strategy for customers at stores going into businesses or other workplaces."
Ferrer said no changes will be immediately made to local mask-wearing requirements. She said Cal-OSHA regulators are set to meet May 20 to discuss possible adjustments to workplace masking requirements, and the county will align with any changes they approve. But until then, masks will remain mandated for everyone patronizing businesses or worksites.
"I know people are going to be impatient now and they're going to say, 'No, time to get on this. Time to just eliminate all these requirements around masking,"' Ferrer said. "But that wasn't the intent, I don't think, of the CDC. I think CDC wrote in multiple places that people really do need to adhere to worker protections and state and local directives. It's important for us to remember that we do need to protect workers, particularly those workers that are in essential work environments."
Gov. Gavin Newsom has said that the state will shelve its mask mandate by mid-June. It will still be up to individual businesses as to whether they want to require masks on their property.