Mask mandate returns to Los Angeles as cases rise

Los Angeles County will reimpose its mask mandate this weekend in the latest sign that public health officials are struggling with an alarming rise in coronavirus cases tied to the highly contagious Delta variant.

The county, home to 10 million people and the nation’s second-largest city, Los Angeles, is one of several jurisdictions to recommend or mandate wearing masks or other pandemic restrictions in recent days as cases rise to worrisome levels in many parts of the United States. We’re requiring masking for everyone while indoors at public settings & businesses, regardless of vaccination status so that we can stop the increased level of transmission we’re seeing, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health said on Twitter Thursday.

The mandate will begin on Saturday night at a minute before midnight, the agency said. The announcement follows six straight days in which more than 1,000 new COVID-19 cases have been reported in Los Angeles County, with nearly 400 people hospitalized with the coronavirus as of Wednesday, up 275 from the week before. Nine new COVID-19 deaths were reported on Wednesday alone.

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