Los Angeles County May Reinstate Indoor Mask Mandate July 29

A man wearing a protective face mask walks past a sign requiring face masks posted on a storefront in Los Angeles, Calif., on March 2, 2022. (Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images)

Los Angeles County will reinstate its indoor mask mandate on July 29 unless COVID-19 hospitalization numbers fall, according to Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer.

While “it’s never too late to reverse course,” Ferrer said, “It’s hard to imagine that two weeks from now the hospital data metric will drop.”

As of Thursday, the average daily rate of COVID-positive patients being hospitalized in the county rose to 10.5 per 100,000 residents. That topped the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) threshold for “high” virus activity. The county was previously in the “medium” category.

Ferrer has warned over the past month that if the county remains in the “high” community level for two consecutive weeks, it will re-impose a mandatory indoor mask-wearing mandate.

Ferrer said there will likely be public resistance to mandatory masking and renewed concerns about who would enforce it.

“Our hope is people will go ahead and make every effort to come into compliance,” Ferrer said, adding that there would be no exemptions for businesses such as gyms or yoga studios.

Masks are already still mandated in some indoor spaces: health care facilities, transit hubs, on transit vehicles, airports, correctional facilities, and shelters. A universal mandate would spread the requirement to all indoor public spaces, including shared office spaces, manufacturing facilities, retail stores, indoor events, indoor restaurants, bars, and schools.

If the mask mandate takes effect July 29, it will remain in effect until the county falls back to the “medium” virus-activity category for two weeks, Ferrer said.

Orange and San Diego counties were also moved into the CDC’s “high” virus-activity category on Thursday, but neither of those counties plan to respond with a mandatory mask mandate or other significant public health measures, even though both have a higher hospitalization rate than Los Angeles County.

According to the CDC, Orange County’s average daily rate of COVID hospitalizations is 15.2 per 100,000 residents, while San Diego County’s is 11.5 per 100,000.