Los Angeles Speeds Up Timeline For Lifting Indoor Mask Mandate -Update

UPDATED with latest CDC numbers: Los Angeles’ top health official indicated today that the county expects to lift its indoor mask mandate much more quickly than previously projected.

Public Health Director Dr. Barbara Ferrer indicated today that the region’s indoor mask mandate, which she projected last week would be lifted in late April, is now likely to be lifted on March 16. That is only a projection, but a hopeful one to be certain. There was even some indication it could happen sooner.

Ferrer announced that the timeline to lift masking indoors had been sped up because the most stringent requirement preventing that relaxation had been removed by an FDA ruling this week.

Last week, Ferrer added a requirement that vaccines for children under 5 must be been available for 8 weeks before indoor masking requirements would be lifted in L.A. She said then that approval should happen by the end of the month, putting the lifting of those outdoor mask mandates at the end of April.

The FDA has delayed that approval for kids under 5, however, so Ferrer said today that the county is “no longer using the availability of the vaccine [to kids under 5] as a metric.”

Given that, she shared a graphic that estimated the other requirements for lifting masking indoors would be met between March 16 and March 30. California is lifting a similar mandate tomorrow, but local rules are allowed to be more stringent.

The reduction in L.A. County’s mandated masking indoors at workplaces, retail and indoor events would come when the region 7 days at or below moderate transmission as defined by the CDC and “there are no emerging reports of significantly circulating new variants of concern that threaten vaccine effectiveness.”

The CDC bar for moderate transmission is when a region averages less than 50 cases per 100,000 over 7 days — that number is separate and apart from the more generally used 7-day average number of cases per 100,000 people. The CDC currently pegs Los Angeles County at over 300 cases per 100,000 over 7 days, which means L.A. is a long, long way from moderate transmission, according to the feds.

Ferrer was later pressed by county supervisors, who asked why the mandate could not be lifted earlier.

Supervisor Janice Hahn was critical of the mandate. She said that Sunday’s Super Bowl showed a lack of adherence by Angelenos and Ferrer’s attendance — even though she was masked — while the vast majority of those around her were unmasked, seemed to give the ok for such behavior.

“I want to note that many of those events have been going on for awhile and that we have been working on compliance with those arenas,” responded Ferrer. She then added that many of those venues and arenas have also required vaccination, and that layering of protections helps prevent spread even when one layer is removed.

The supervisors then asked why, then, there isn’t some kind of easing of masking restrictions for those venues that layer in such protection.

Seeming to backpedal, Ferrer then said that county health officials were looking at that “in the near future.”

She added, “We’re working with some of the sector partners and we’re hoping that by early next week we’ll have something that we can implement soon.”

The requirement county has set for dropping masking at large outdoor events and outdoor spaces at schools and child-care facilities is set to be lifted tomorrow, given that virus-related hospitalizations have stayed below 2,500 for seven straight days.