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Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva said on Friday his department would not spend the necessary resources to enforce an indoor mask warrant in the county, adding that the measure was “not backed by science” .
“Forcing vaccinees and those who have already contracted COVID-19 to wear masks indoors is not supported by science and contradicts guidelines from the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC),” Villanueva said in a statement.
He said that while the Los Angeles County Public Health Department (DPH) has the power to enforce its mandate, “the underfunded / funded Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department will not spend our limited resources and will instead require voluntary compliance. “
“We encourage the DPH to work with the supervisory board and law enforcement to establish mandates that are both achievable and science-backed,” he added.
The county public health department issued an indoor mask warrant on Thursday, a measure that applies to everyone regardless of their immunization status.
The department said the indoor mask mandate was warranted because the county saw the number of COVID-19 cases increase sevenfold between the county reopening on June 15 and Thursday.
According to department data, the county recorded 210 new cases on June 15 compared with 1,537 new cases on Thursday, the highest number recorded since mid-March.
“Because of this rapid increase, along with the growing presence of the more easily transmitted Delta variant of the virus and millions of people potentially at risk of infection, we must together reduce our risk of infection and our risk of infection. ‘potentially infect other people. “the ministry said in a press release.
The warrant goes into effect at 11:59 p.m. on Saturday, about a month since the county lifted a previous mask warrant.
The recent announcement comes as unvaccinated pockets of the United States are seeing an increase in cases due to the highly transmissible delta variant originally found in India.
According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 56% of the total United States population has received at least one dose of the vaccine and 48% are fully vaccinated.
CDC Director Rochelle WalenskyRochelle WalenskyOvernight Defense: Milley reportedly warned Trump against Iranian strikes | Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer killed in Afghanistan | 70 percent of active-duty military are at least partially vaccinated Overnight health care: CDC director warns of ‘pandemic of the unvaccinated’ | Biden says social media platforms are ‘killing people’ | Florida accounts for 20% of new Biden cases: Social media platforms ‘kill people’ MORE maintained the agency would not change its masking recommendations, but said on Friday that local officials were encouraged to consider preventative measures to curb the spread of COVID-19.
“These decisions have to be made at the local level,” Walensky said during a White House briefing. “If you have areas of low vaccination and high case rates then I would say that local decision makers might be wondering if masking at this point would be something that would be useful for their community until they increase their numbers. vaccination rate. ”
As it stands, the CDC recommends that fully vaccinated people should not wear masks in most settings, except in travel spaces like airplanes and trains.
The Hill has contacted the Los Angeles County Public Health Department for comment.
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