LA County In Limbo As State Lifts Mask Mandates

LOS ANGELES, CA — As mask mandates and pandemic health orders ease across California, the situation in Los Angeles County remains a little more complicated.

On Monday, state officials announced a March 11 end to the statewide mask mandate in schools, but the state's largest school district — the Los Angeles Unified School District — has, so far refrained from dropping its mask mandate. The teachers union has suggested that it would oppose an immediate end to mask mandates.

Similarly, the state announced an end to its indoor mask policy for unvaccinated people last week, and health departments in Pasadena and Long Beach quickly followed suit. The state's indoor mask mandate for the unvaccinated ends Tuesday, but the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health has not yet altered its indoor mask mandate. County officials are slated to discuss options for altering health orders at Tuesday's Board of Supervisors meeting.

Though not mandated, indoor masking remains strongly recommended by the state and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in places with high coronavirus transmission rates such as Los Angeles County.

Still, the number of COVID-19-positive patients in Los Angeles County hospitals continued its downward trajectory Monday, and the region could soon achieve the CDC's moderate risk category.

According to state figures, there were 916 COVID-positive patients hospitalized locally, down from 975 on Sunday. Of those patients, 182 are in intensive care, down from 188 the previous day.

The county's number of hospitalized COVID patients has been as high as 8,098 and as low as 213 during the two-year pandemic. It quickly shot up to over 4,800 in January amid a winter surge in cases fueled by the Omicron variant, and has been steadily declining since then. The number fell below 1,000 on Sunday for the first time since December.

Officials have said some patients enter the hospital for other reasons and discover they have COVID after a mandated test.

The county reported another 67 COVID-19 deaths on Monday, raising the overall death toll from the virus to 30,716. The county also reported a total of 2,833 new COVID cases from the past two days, raising the cumulative pandemic total to 2,796,560.

The rolling average daily rate of people testing for the virus was 1.1% as of Monday, down from 1.4% on Saturday, according to the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health.

The falling case rates led to Monday's easing of mask mandates for California schools. Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Monday that the state's indoor mask-wearing mandate in schools will end at 11:59 p.m. March 11. Los Angeles County will align with the state and also lift the school masking rule.

But it remains to be seen if the Los Angeles Unified School District will adhere to the same schedule. The head of the United Teachers Los Angeles union issued a statement opposing a lifting of the mask mandate on school campuses.

LAUSD Superintendent Alberto Carvalho issued a statement saying only that the district will "continue to consult with our medical director and health partners as we work to establish an updated mask policy."

The state on Tuesday will lift its overall indoor mask-wearing mandate for unvaccinated people in most settings. Los Angeles County, however, still has a mandate in place.

The county on Friday relaxed its mandate, allowing people who are vaccinated against COVID-19 to remove face coverings indoors at establishments that verify patrons' vaccination status.

The change took effect at 12:01 a.m. Friday. Hours later, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced amended COVID guidelines that dropped its recommendation for indoor mask-wearing in much of the country but not in L.A. County.

LA Metro reminded riders Saturday that they are still required to wear face masks while on buses or trains, under a federal mandate that applies to all transit systems. Under federal rules, masks continue to be required indoors at airports, transit centers, aboard public transit, in health-care facilities and at homeless shelters, long-term care centers and emergency shelters.

City News Service and Patch Staffer Paige Austin contributed to this report.