LA County Eases Indoor Mask Requirements For The Vaccinated

LOS ANGELES, CA — Los Angeles County will enter a new phase of the pandemic in which the vaccinated can go maskless starting Friday while the unvaccinated will still have to wear masks or provide proof of a recent negative COVID test in indoor public settings.

The relaxed masking order is a compromise of sorts. It relaxes masking requirements weeks before Los Angeles County was likely to meet the coronavirus transmission and hospitalization criteria set by county health officials. Critics of the county's strict mask mandate have been calling for the easing of restrictions since state health officials dropped the statewide masking mandate for vaccinated people earlier this month.

“As transmission drops and there is less virus circulating, some tools may afford significant protections against the very worst risks associated with COVID,” L.A. County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said. “Because vaccines are one of these tools, with lower rates of hospital admissions and COVID hospitalizations, it is appropriate in settings verifying vaccination or negative test status that we transition to strongly recommending masking instead of requiring masking.”

Daily coronavirus case averages have plummeted more than 70 percent in Los Angeles County over the last two weeks.

The new orders put Los Angeles County in line with the rest of the state.

The unvaccinated must still don masks while in public indoor spaces or provide proof of a negative test, and businesses would have to verify vaccination or infection status in order to allow staff and customers to go maskless. For the unvaccinated to go maskless, they must provide proof of a negative PCR test taken within two days of or one day for an antigen test.

Under rules already in place, several LA County venues have been required to check the vaccine status of patrons, including bars, wineries and clubs.

The new rules will take effect at 12 a.m. Friday.

"This puts us significantly closer to aligning with the state," said Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn, who pressed for the relaxation of the mask mandate.

The announcement comes after the state eased its indoor mask mandate and the day after some major retailers such as Target ended masking requirements for customers and employees regardless of vaccination status unless mandated by local health orders.

Only 36 percent of Los Angeles County residents have received a booster shot and only 74 percent of eligible residents 5 and older have been vaccinated. Nearly 3 million people have tested positive for COVID-19 countywide since the start of the pandemic.

Meanwhile, the county on Wednesday reported another 36 COVID deaths and 1,934 more cases. The number of new cases is a significant uptick from the day prior, which may have had an artificially low total due to holiday weekend testing lagtimes.

Of the 36 new deaths reported Wednesday, five people were between the ages of 30-49, four were between the ages of 50-64, 12 were between the ages of 65-79, and 13 were aged 80 years or older.

City News Service contributed to this report.