Los Angeles County Revives Everyone’s Indoor Mask Obligation

Los Angeles-The rapid and sustained increase in cases of COVID-19 in the largest county in the United States requires reinstatement of indoor mask obligations even if civilians in Los Angeles County are vaccinated. there is. health The officer said Thursday.

Dr. Muntu Davis said at a virtual press conference that a public health order requiring masks indoors would come into effect on Saturday.

“This is every hands-on-deck moment,” he said.

Davis didn’t fully elaborate what he said there were some exceptions, but for example, people could go out and take off their masks only while eating or drinking. I said I could.

The county records more than 1,000 new cases daily each week, and there is currently a “substantial community infection,” Davis said.

Meanwhile, in Northern California, at least 59 residents of homeless shelters tested positive for the virus, half of whom were vaccinated, health officials said.

Dr. Sundari Mase, a Sonoma County health officer, said 28 of the infected people in the Santa Rosa shelter had been completely vaccinated. Authorities were considering an additional 26 possible positive cases.

Of the 59 confirmed infections at Samuel L. Jones Hall, nine were hospitalized, six of whom were fully vaccinated and had “multiple serious illnesses, including diabetes and lung disease,” according to health officials. I was suffering from an underlying disease. Since then, four have been discharged and five remain hospitalized.

Authorities said less than half of the 153 residents were at least partially vaccinated and it is unclear whether the outbreak originated in vaccinated or unvaccinated residents. It was.

“We know that aggregate settings are at much higher risk,” Mase said. “We also know that the proportion of unvaccinated individuals in this situation is very high.”

Most of the 69 vaccinated residents had a single Johnson & Johnson vaccination, but Mase said it was difficult to determine if it was the cause of the outbreak. It was.

Vaccines reduce the severity of illness, reduce hospitalization, and reduce the risk of death. Clinical trials have shown that a single dose of the J & J vaccine is 72% effective against moderate to severe COVID-19 in the United States, compared to 95% for Pfizer and Modana. vaccine.. A Food and Drug Administration analysis warned that it was not clear how well the vaccine would work for each mutant.

Occurrence is the second time Coronavirus Detected in Sam Jones. Jenny Lin Holmes, head of homeless services for the Catholic Charities in Santa Rosa, who manages the shelter, said there was a small group of cases during the peak of the pandemic in January.

The shelter first noticed the latest outbreak when it reported 20 positive cases on July 2.

“Something is different. This is not what we see throughout the pandemic,” Holmes said.

Holmes and city officials said last week that the outbreak was caused by a delta mutation that was much more contagious than the original virus strain. County officials have not confirmed it and said more time was needed to confirm the infection.

Clarissa Mirror Carr, who has lived in Sam Jones since March, said shelter staff were lazy in implementing health protocols, especially masking, before the outbreak.

“I feel very likely to get infected,” Mr. Miller Carr, who is vaccinated, told the Democratic Party of Japan in Santa Rosa.

Staff have since improved hygiene, been more vigilant about masks, and began testing every few days, Millerker said. Still, there is confusion and anger about how shelter operators handled the situation, she said.

“People are upset, and they’re right,” she said.