Los Angeles bemoans mask mandate while experts urge compliance

7/16

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LOS ANGELES - A collective groan spread through Los Angeles when county public health officials reintroduced an indoor mask mandate regardless of vaccine status just one month after California reopened its economy.

Frustrated by what some view as a step backward in the prolonged coronavirus pandemic, residents quickly pushed back against public health officials despite an uptick in new infections.

Caitlyn Jenner, the former Olympian and a gubernatorial candidate looking to oust Gov. Gavin Newsom in the upcoming recall election, called Thursday’s order “Gavin’s shutdown 2.0.”

Newsom did not issue the mask mandate and has not commented on the order.

Kevin Faulconer, who is also looking to unseat Newsom, said in a statement that he would oppose the mandate if he were governor.

“Vaccinated individuals don't need to wear masks, medical experts have made that clear,” he said. “We need to be reopening our state, not reimposing unnecessary restrictions. If Gavin Newsom had any common sense, he'd step up and oppose this, that's what I'll do as governor.”

a group of people standing in front of a crowd: People, many masked, look for lunch at the Grand Central Market in downtown Los Angeles on June 15, 2021. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)© Provided by NBC News People, many masked, look for lunch at the Grand Central Market in downtown Los Angeles on June 15, 2021. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
Once a hotbed of both coronavirus cases and anti-mask, anti-vaccine activity, Los Angeles has seen a 261 percent increase in Covid cases over the last two weeks, according to the Los Angeles Times coronavirus tracker.

On June 15, when California officially reopened after more than a year of Covid restrictions, Los Angeles County reported 210 new cases. On July 15, that number jumped to 1,537, according to its public health department.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention now considers Los Angeles to have a “substantial level of community transmission.”

The recent uptick is being fueled by the highly transmissible delta variant and a plateau in vaccinations among the county’s 10 million residents, public health officials said Thursday. Nearly 5 million people are fully vaccinated, according to the public health department, but millions more remain unprotected either by choice or, in the case of children, by a lag in federal authorization.

“We’re not where we need to be for the millions at risk of infection here in Los Angeles County, and waiting to do something will be too late given what we’re seeing now,” county Health Officer Dr. Muntu Davis said Thursday during a news briefing.