LA County Reveals Set Of Guidelines For Lifting Mask Mandates For Mega-Events, Indoor Settings
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) — As positive cases and hospitalizations continue their downward trend after the peak in the Omicron surge of COVID-19, Los Angeles County Department of Health officials have revealed a new set of guidelines that must be in met in order for the reconsideration of the current mask mandate that is in place.
While the mandates stand to remain for the greater part of coming weeks, L.A. County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer revealed that once the number of patients hospitalized with COVID-19 falls below 2,500 for seven consecutive days, health officials will re-evaluate the county's necessity for masks indoors.
Once that requirement is met, the mandate will be removed for mask-wearing outdoor mega-events, like concerts, sporting events and outdoor spaces like schools and child care facilities.
Despite this, masks will still be required for indoor settings, unless another threshold is achieved - a "moderate" transmission rate of 50 new cases per 100,000 people for two consecutive weeks.
"When we move into the post-surge phase, Public Health will continue to support an equity focused response and will organize post-surge actions to protect the medically vulnerable, protect essential workers, protect hospitals and health system functioning and support a subset of vital institutions, such as those that provide government services, schools, childcare and emergency response," she said on Thursday.
As of Thursday, L.A. County still reported nearly 4,000 patients hospitalized due to COVID-19, with 3,398. This number isn't expected to fall drastically, especially with the upcoming Super Bowl being held in Inglewood on Feb. 13, with an expected attendance of almost 100,000 people
The county as a whole came under fire following the NFC Championship on Sunday, where thousands of fans in the stands could be seen sans mask, notably Mayor Eric Garcetti and California Governor Gavin Newsom - who both maintained varying explanations as to why.
As for the county's transmission rate, it was reported at 1,584 per 100,000 on Thursday.
Ferrer made it clear that despite the indication of these guidelines, a new variant of concern may cause a quick change in plans.
She also addressed the newest "stealth" variant of Omicron, called BA.2, indicating that the variant is not one of concern, especially for those who are fully-vaccinated against Coronavirus. Los Angeles County reported 17 new cases of the BA.2 variant on Thursday.
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