LA County's indoor mask mandate could return by end of July
The Los Angeles Department of Public Health said Thursday that the county could move into the "high" risk COVID-19 threshold by next Thursday, prompting the return of an indoor mask mandate.
"The newest projected date of crossing the threshold of 10 admissions per 100,000 residents...is now next week on July 14," said Public Health Director Dr. Barbara Ferrer.
If the county does cross the threshold, it will reinstate the indoor mask mandate on July 29.
In a press conference, Ferrer said that an overwhelming majority of cases were from the two most recent strains of COVID-19.
"The CDC does estimate that across the county for the week that ended July 2, BA.4 and BA.5 combined, accounted for just over 70% of specimens," Ferrer added. "That's a considerable increase from 39% just two weeks ago."
Meanwhile, the county is preparing for what's next. It has scheduled more than 700 mobile vaccine clinics across the county with over 1,000 stand-alone facilities ready to dole out the shots.
Officials hope that more people getting vaccinated will reduce any strain on the hospital system.
On Tuesday, the county reported 5,316 new COVID cases and 13 additional deaths.
"I think the Department of Public health needs to double down on saying if you're high risk or elderly you need to wear a high-quality mask," said emergency room Dr. Michael Daignault.
The reports brought the total caseload to 3,153,690 and the total death toll to 32,397.
The average daily rate of people testing positive for the virus rose to 16.9%.