Los Angeles County has moved into the CDC’s “high” transmission level for the community spread of COVID, but a new mask mandate is not being announced at this time, reported Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer during a Dec. 8 media briefing.
Cases have been trending upwards for several weeks and Thursday’s case rate of 258 new cases per 100,000 people officially crossed into the high transmission category. The County’s reported hospital admission rate of 14.8 per 100,000 people on Thursday also qualifies for the high transmission category.
This hospital admission rate meets one of two criteria that could lead the Public Health Department to announce an indoor mask mandate. The second criteria is the share of hospital beds occupied by COVID patients, which is currently below the 10% benchmark for a mask mandate to be considered.
During the past week an average of nearly 3,800 cases were reported per day, reflecting a 40% increase from the prior week and a 200% increase from a month ago.
Ferrer said more restrictive regulations are not currently necessary, but urged everyone to mask up in indoor settings.
“Being at high community level, doesn’t mean returning to more restrictive and disruptive measures that we use at earlier times in the pandemic,” said Ferrer. “We are not asking people to curtail their activities to avoid activities or to shut down any activities.”
The County Health Department is letting people know that elevated transmission levels come with a higher risk of illness and that this is impacting the healthcare system and vulnerable residents, she added.
“It would be dangerous for us to feel that we no longer need to try to minimize the impact of these surges by taking some practical steps that can reduce transmission and illness severity and taking actions that care for ourselves and others,” Ferrer said.
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