A push for more indoor masking is underway in Los Angeles as cases of the COVID-19 delta variant rise.
All citizens — even those vaccinated for the contagion — are being urged to mask up once again until health officials “better understand how and to who the delta variant is spreading.”
“With increase circulation of the highly transmissible delta variant, the Los Angeles County of Public Health (Public Health), strongly recommends everyone, regardless of vaccination status, wear masks indoors,” officials said in a statement released Monday.
L.A. County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer noted last week that 123 cases of the variant, which originated in India, have been confirmed.
She noted, however, that limited testing for the variant likely means a much higher infection rate exists within the Los Angeles population of nearly 4 million people.
“[This variant] is a bigger and badder version of COVID, unfortunately, that’s easier to spread from person to person,” Dr. David Bronstein, an infectious disease specialist with Kaiser Permanente, told a local ABC affiliate. “The numbers are rising in L.A. County right now, and primarily it’s being spread in households.”
Regardless, the doctor said that existing vaccines have proven effective in preventing hospitalizations from the delta variant.
As Delta Variant Circulates, Public Health Recommends Masking Indoors as a Precaution - 3 New Deaths and 259 New Confirmed Cases of COVID-19 in Los Angeles County.
— LA Public Health (@lapublichealth) June 29, 2021
View https://t.co/Fnrbckbfhf pic.twitter.com/16a6fBHByC
• Douglas Ernst can be reached at dernst@washingtontimes.com.
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