The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department has decided not to impose the upcoming facemask regulations in the county. On July 15, 2021, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health revealed that the US county would introduce an indoor COVID-19 mask mandate again for everyone during the weekend, irrespective of their vaccination status.
Before, vaccinated people in Los Angeles could remove their face masks in almost every indoor situation. In a recent statement, the Sheriff of Los Angeles County, namely Alex Villanueva, confirmed that the decision on the mask order is not based on the basis of science. Villanueva also stated that he expects that LA County’s residents would voluntarily follow the mandate.
As for Villanueva, science does not support the decision to compel COVID-19 contracted people and vaccinated individuals to use masks indoors. Instead, the Sheriff said that compelling them thus contradicts the CDC’s guidelines, while adding that the Department would demand voluntary compliance instead of expending its limited resources. It also encouraged the Department of Public Health to work with both law enforcement and the LAC Board of Supervisors to establish science-backed and achievable mandates.
The new mask mandate started on July 17, 2021, and at the time of writing this, 453 people were hospitalized with coronavirus disease. The hospitalized people count has increased twofold over the past month.
The Health Officer for LAC, namely Muntu Davis, stated that there has been an increase in the county’s COVID-19-related metrics over the past week. Davis implied that it is a situation requiring everyone’s involvement as in an emergency.
