LA Mask Mandate Looms As County Moves Into 'High' COVID Activity

LOS ANGELES, CA — A mask mandate could soon befall Angelenos as a cluster of highly infectious variants drive cases up in Los Angeles County.

The average daily rate of COVID-19-positive patients hospitalized in the county rose to 10.5 per 100,000 residents, according to data released Thursday, topping the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's threshold for "high" virus activity. The county was previously in the "medium" category.

L.A. County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer warned over the past month that a mask mandate will be reinstated if the county falls into the "high" activity category and remains there for two consecutive weeks.

"There's a lot of misinformation circulating about COVID right now, including that, at this point, it only causes mild illness," Ferrer said, according to the Los Angeles Times. "Unfortunately, this isn't true."

Ferrer Friday that unless hospitalization numbers fall, the masking rule will take effect July 29.

The odds of such a reversal appear slim, given the persistent climb in hospitalizations over the past few weeks and the increase in daily COVID infections.

While saying that "it's never too late to reverse course," Ferrer added, "It's hard to imagine that two weeks from now the hospital data metric will drop."

She also noted likely public resistance to the idea of mandatory masking and renewed concerns about who would enforce it.

"Our hope is people will go ahead and make every effort to come into compliance," Ferrer said, adding that there would be no exemptions for businesses such as gyms or yoga studios.

"Spread is super high everywhere," she said. "We have lots and lots of outbreaks, so we are going to ask that everybody go ahead with indoor masking."

If the mask mandate takes effect July 29, it will remain in effect until the county falls back to the "medium" virus-activity category for two weeks, Ferrer said.

The most recent statistics show that of the county COVID cases undergoing specialized testing to identify variants, 48.2 percent were BA.5 and 14 percent were BA.4. The combined 62 percent rate is double the proportion from two weeks ago. The variants have shown a remarkable ability to sidestep defenses from previous infection and vaccination.

To add more fuel to the fire, another subvariant, BA.2.75, has cropped up in the U.S. in recent weeks, with seven cases detected in the U.S. and two detected in California, one of which was found in Los Angeles County.

“It does appear to have additional mutations that facilitate spread and evade immunity,” Ferrer said during a briefing, according to the L.A. Times. “And it’s been spreading fairly rapidly across India.”

UCSF infectious disease expert Peter Chin-Hong told the San Francisco Chronicle that the variant BA.2.75 "can be another escape artist…like BA.2 and cause another round of reinfections and infections for first timers," he said.

Health officials said the variants are dramatically more contagious than previous strains thanks to their ability to infect people who were previously infected with other variants.

Ferrer said she recognizes that "many people feel the risk is a lot lower right now," but she said the threat posed by the BA.4 and BA.5 variants is real.

"We're saying there is a need to worry," she said.

Ferrer also announced 14 more virus-related deaths on Thursday, raising the overall death toll to 32,492. She noted that the county has seen a steady rise in COVID fatalities, averaging 14 per day over the past week.

Health officials have said that a majority of the deaths occurred in people with at least one underlying health condition, mainly hypertension, diabetes and heart disease. But Ferrer stressed that some people die from the virus without any underlying conditions, and there's no way of predicting who will be "one of the lucky ones" who escapes an infection without serious health consequences.

The average daily rate of people testing positive for the virus was 17.5 percent as of Thursday. But Ferrer noted that some health care facilities in the county are reporting positivity rates of 40 percent among patients seeking care.

It remains to be seen whether the prevalence of the newest subvariant, along with the other mutants, will push Angelenos to take more precautions.

Sharon Fayette ripped off her mask the moment she stepped out of a Lyft ride in LA and groaned when informed another universal mask requirement might be coming. "Oh man, when will it end?" she wondered about the pandemic.

Fayette said she was exhausted by shifting regulations and dubious another mandate would be followed by most residents. "I just think people are over it, over all the rules," she told the Associated Press.

Coronavirus is not killing nearly as many as it was last fall and winter, and experts do not expect death to reach those levels again anytime soon. But hundreds of daily deaths from a summertime respiratory illness would normally be jaw-dropping, said Andrew Noymer, a public health professor at the University of California, Irvine. He noted that in Orange County, California, 46 people died of COVID-19 in June.

"That would be all hands on deck," Noymer said. "People would be like, 'There's this crazy new flu that's killing people in June.'"

Experts say precautions are not being taken anymore. Vaccinations, including booster shots for those eligible, lower the risk of hospitalization and death — even against the latest variants. But less than half of all eligible U.S. adults have gotten a single booster shot, and only about 1 in 4 Americans age 50 and older who are eligible for a second booster have received one.

In Los Angeles County, masks are already mandated in some indoor spaces — healthcare facilities, transit hubs, on transit vehicles, airports, correctional facilities and shelters.

A new universal mandate would spread the requirement to all indoor public spaces, including shared office spaces, manufacturing facilities, retail stores, indoor events, indoor restaurants and bars and schools.

Supervisor Kathryn Barger urged Ferrer and health officials to conduct outreach to local businesses to discuss the impacts they could face, "especially when surrounding counties are not considering" a mandate.

Supervisor Sheila Kuehl again forcefully backed the idea of requiring masks, saying she has "no patience" for people who won't wear them.

"People are just not wearing them when they're not mandated," Kuehl said.

Nick Barragan has made a habit of keeping his mask on since his job in the Hollywood film industry has long required it. He said he won't be fazed if the county that's home to Tinseltown soon becomes the first major population center this summer to reinstate rules requiring face coverings indoors because of another spike in coronavirus cases.

"I feel fine about it because I've worn one pretty much constantly for the last few years," Barragan told the Associated Press, masked up while out running errands Wednesday. "It's become a habit."

City News Service and the Associated Press contributed to this report.