Los Angeles County is, once again, “strongly recommending” individuals mask up, well over two-and-a-half years after the start of the Chinese coronavirus pandemic.
Los Angeles County officials cannot seem to take universal masking off the table, as they are now urging individuals to mask up in indoor settings. They are attributing this to the rise in their seven-day average of coronavirus cases, which reportedly jumped from 65 cases per 100,000 two weeks ago to 86 per 100,000 last week. Now, they are reporting 100 new cases per 100,000.
Because of this, county health officer Dr. Muntu Davis said it is “strongly recommended that all individuals wear a high-quality mask that fits well in the following settings: in public indoor spaces; when using public transit, including buses, ride-shares, taxis and medical transport; correctional and detention facilities; and homeless and emergency shelters.”
Overall, the county has seen an increase in cases per day, going from 1,300 per day last week to 1,500 currently. And while they claim that hospitalizations related to the coronavirus are on the rise, ABC 7 reports that “health officials have said previously that roughly 40% of the patients were actually admitted for COVID-related issues, while the rest were admitted for other reasons but tested positive at the hospital.”
Davis also warned people to take “common sense precautions” moving into the holidays.
L.A. County officials have teased bringing back mask mandates, even this year. They threatened to do so over the summer after the country reached the threshold for “high” coronavirus community levels, but they ultimately backed down.
That same summer, Los Angeles County supervisor Sheila Kuehl openly mocked individuals who oppose masking, deeming them “snowflake weepies” and attempting to assert that masking is no different than an establishment asking someone to wear shoes.
The officials’ recommendation comes years after the start of the pandemic, following studies that show that typical drug store masks and cloth masks do not actually block exhaled aerosols — something Dr. Anthony Fauci privately admitted in February 2020.
Dr. Anthony Fauci laughs while speaking in the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House, Thursday, Jan. 21, 2021 (AP Photo/Alex Brandon).
“The typical mask you buy in the drug store is not really effective in keeping out virus, which is small enough to pass through the material,” he wrote in an email to former U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell.
Notably, officials across the board originally touted the vaccines — which do not prevent an individual from contracting the virus, nor do they stop transmission — as a means to get rid of mask mandates and return to a state of pre-pandemic normalcy. However, L.A. County serves as proof that the original claim was untrue, as masking still remains on the table.
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