L.A. County Could Reimpose Indoor Mask Mandate by July 29

Los Angeles County may reimpose an indoor mask mandate due to rising coronavirus cases and hospitalizations, according to county officials.

The county’s public health website is registering a dramatic rise in test positivity rate and hospitalization, though deaths remain flat.

According to a briefing Thursday by L.A. County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer, authorities will reimpose the indoor mask mandate if hospitalizations — currently at 8.4. per 100,000 — reach 10 per 100,000 and stay there for two weeks.

The Los Angeles Daily News reported:

The county is currently in the “medium” virus activity level, as defined by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It will reach the “high” category if the seven-day average of new COVID-related hospital admissions reaches 10 per 100,000 residents.

As of Thursday, the county’s admission rate was 8.4 per 100,000 residents. But given the rate of increase over the past two weeks, the county is on pace to reach 10 per 100,000 residents by next Thursday, Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said in an online briefing. She stressed that the estimate is only a projection which could change dramatically based on admission numbers in the coming days.

If the county remains at that high level for two consecutive weeks, it will re-impose a mandatory indoor mask-wearing mandate. Under the current schedule, that would happen on July 29.

The rise of new and highly contagious variants of COVID-19 is driving the new surge in infections. However, state officials this week announced that they would not impose mask mandates on children in public schools — perhaps fearing a backlash before elections in November.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. His recent book, RED NOVEMBER, tells the story of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary from a conservative perspective. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.