Los Angeles, Feb 9 (IANS): Los Angeles County, the most populous county in the US, will continue its mask mandate even though California is lifting its indoor masking requirements in public settings.
"On February 15, California's statewide indoor mask requirement will expire. Unvaccinated people must still wear masks in indoor public settings." the Office of the Governor of California announced Monday evening, citing the Covid-19 infections cases had decreased 65 per cent since the Omicron peak.
Aside of those that are unvaccinated, school children and those in high risk areas such as public transit and nursing facilities, will still be required to wear masks, the state authority said.
However, the Los Angeles County believed that the current situation is far from meeting two criteria that it outlined before to ease its mask rules in the coming weeks and months, Xinhua news agency reported.
"This is not the right time to stop wearing our masks when around others indoors, and in outdoor crowded settings," Los Angeles County Public Health Director, Barbara Ferrer told local ABC 7 news channel.
The Los Angeles Times explained Tuesday that once coronavirus-positive hospitalisations drop below 2,500 for seven straight days, the county will lift mask requirements at outdoor mega events as well as outdoor spaces at child-care settings and K-12 schools.
Second, the county's local indoor mask mandate won't be lifted until the region records two consecutive weeks at or below "moderate" coronavirus transmission defined by the CDC, meaning the county's daily new cases to drop below 700 for two consecutive weeks while positive test rate fell to less than 8 per cent for two consecutive weeks.
According to data released by the county on Tuesday, as of Monday, there were 2,702 coronavirus-positive patients in hospitals, the county is still recording about 10,000 new cases a day.
Even though those numbers are much better than in January, the county could have a long way to reach the tier.
"It's hard to predict how soon L.A. County could reach that goal." the Los Angeles Times said.