Behind LA County’s decision to maintain a Maskman date

Los Angeles, CA — Last week, Los Angeles County supervisor Kathryn Barger, who urged the governor to immediately comply with the relaxed federal COVID-19 guidelines for wearing masks, said he would support the decision to wait until June 15th on Tuesday. Stated. Lamented mixed messages from the federal and local governments.

“My response and request to the governor were due to complaints expressed by many individuals, including myself, regarding inconsistencies at the federal, state and local levels,” Berger told the supervisory board on Tuesday. Stated. “… We believe we need consistency.

“And when the President and Vice President stand up and the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) makes its announcement … I need to be transparent about what is driving the issue surrounding wearing masks. I think it’s wearing a mask. “

Berger said the decision to wait until June 15 to lift the mask obligation would require more people to be vaccinated and corporate guidelines to be developed after the obligation was lifted. Said that it is based on.

“The issues raised by the CDC are science-based, so we need to distinguish between politics and science. Also, because they are science-based, not science-based, they are fully dated June 15. What the state feels is when they need to get things like “how to verify vaccinations” and putting vaccinations in people’s arms. is.

Berger asked County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer about the dangers to fully vaccinated people when mixed with unvaccinated people who are not wearing masks. “Frankly, you’re like an armor suit,” Feller said for a fully vaccinated person.

“The problem is that there is no way to know who is vaccinated and who is not currently vaccinated in these groups,” she said. “And when many people are mixed, and as I said, 50% of them are not completely vaccinated, and they are not wearing masks and are completely vaccinated. There are infected people who have not been vaccinated. Spread it to others who have not yet been vaccinated, and it creates a risk for all of us.

“… the more infected this virus is, the more likely it is to mutate,” she said. “And the more mutations there are, the higher the risk of seeing other new concern mutations. Perhaps the new concern mutations can not only infect more people rapidly, but also. Vaccines may not work very well, for variants of that concern. “

She said that because of the lack of a vaccine validation process, unvaccinated people are at risk of further spread of the virus simply by removing the mask using relaxed rules.

In states and Los Angeles County, except for crowded events, fully vaccinated and unvaccinated people do not need to cover their faces outdoors if they cannot maintain physical distance. In indoor environments outside the home, such as public transport, businesses, and schools, face coverings continue to be required regardless of vaccination status.

The CDC revised its guidance last week, stating that fully vaccinated people can almost stop wearing masks in most indoor and outdoor situations. However, that guidance does not compromise local and state regulations.

Some national supermarket chains, such as Trader Joe’s, Costco and Wal-Mart, have withdrawn the mask requirements for fully vaccinated customers in response to the CDC’s announcement, but store officials have certified vaccination. He said he wouldn’t ask.

Feller said on Monday that the chain should lift the requirement only in states where Maskmandate has been lifted, not in California.

“I’m frankly surprised that Trader Joe’s opposed what the state office said,” Feller said. “… this will be very easy to understand for businesses, customers, residents and visitors as there is one standard across the state and you have to keep wearing the mask until June 15th.”

She added that health officials would “go in and out” this week to make it clear that the mask requirements are still valid.

According to weekly statistics released by the state on Tuesday, the county’s new COVID-19 infection rate dropped from 1.4 per 100,000 last week to 1.2 per 100,000. The average rate of people who test positive for the virus has dropped from 0.7% a week ago to 0.6%.

Los Angeles County reported another 12 COVID-19 deaths on Tuesday, increasing the county-wide death toll to 24,106.

The county confirmed an additional 159 cases, reporting 17 cases for Long Beach and 2 cases for Pasadena, raising the cumulative total from the entire pandemic to 1,237,700.

As of Tuesday, 352 people were admitted to the county for COVID-19, up from 338 on Monday, according to state statistics. Of those patients, 79 were in the intensive care unit. It increased from 69 people.

As of the end of Friday, 15,727 teenagers aged 12 to 15 were vaccinated against COVID-19. This is 3% of the county inhabitants of that age group. In addition, 95,396 teenagers aged 16 and 17 have been vaccinated at least once. That is 38% of that age group.

Feller promoted the county community initiative to vaccinate teenagers. They include a pop-up clinic for 200 Los Angeles Unified School District sites. According to officials, 82% of existing school-based clinics have so-called “low resource” zip codes.

City news service