Public Health Underscores Business Compliance and Masking - Santa Monica Daily Press smdp.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from smdp.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Replies(38)
Everyone in grocery or retail stores, theaters, family entertainment centers should don masks as well as employees at workplaces where the vaccination status of other workers isn t known, according to county health officials. (Jenna Fisher/Patch)
LOS ANGELES, CA Los Angeles County Public Health Department officials broke with federal and state officials Monday by strongly recommending that everyone wear masks in indoor public places due to the rapid spread of the highly contagious Delta mutation.
The COVID-19 variant is rapidly spreading in Los Angeles County. Because of it, county health officials now urge everyone to wear masks in indoor public places regardless of their vaccination status. Everyone in grocery or retail stores, theaters, family entertainment centers should don masks as well as employees at workplaces where the vaccination status of other workers isn t known, according to county health officials. Amid evidence that the variant is far more contagio
Updated on June 28, 2021 at 7:33 pm
Patrick T. Fallon | AFP | Getty Images
Breaking from current guidance allowing residents who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 to shed their face masks in most situations, Los Angeles County health officials Monday “strongly” recommended that everyone wear masks in indoor public places due to rapid spread of a highly contagious virus mutation.
The county Department of Public Health urged everyone regardless of vaccination status to wear masks in settings such as grocery or retail stores, theaters, family entertainment centers and workplaces when the vaccination status of other workers isn t known.
Download our NBC 7 mobile app for iOS or Android to get alerts for local breaking news and weather.
The “Delta” variant of COVID-19 originated in India, and is blamed for rampant infections in that country and outbreaks in the United Kingdom and beyond. Federal health authorities are estimating that 20% of all new COVID-19 infections in the country are now due to the “Delta” variant, up from 10% a week ago.
The variant is considered to be far more contagious than previous mutations of the COVID-19 virus, and potentially capable of making patients more severely ill. Health officials have said people who are fully vaccinated are protected against the variant.
“While COVID-19 vaccine provides very effective protection preventing hospitalizations and deaths against the Delta variant, the strain is proving to be more transmissible and is expected to become more prevalent,” Los Angeles County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said in a statement Monday. “Mask wearing remains an effective tool for reducing transmission, especially indoors, where the virus may be easily
The number of cases and deaths are likely to reflect reporting delays over the weekend.
Delta Variant
With increase circulation of the highly transmissible Delta variant, Public Health strongly recommends everyone, regardless of vaccination status, wear masks indoors in public places as a precautionary measure.
In the week ending June 12, Delta variants comprised of nearly half of all variants sequenced in Los Angeles County.
“While COVID-19 vaccine provides very effective protection preventing hospitalizations and deaths against the Delta variant, the strain is proving to be more transmissible and is expected to become more prevalent,” said Barbara Ferrer, PhD, MPH, MEd, Director of Public Health.