The number of coronavirus-positive patients hospitalized in Los Angeles County has dropped below 2,500, putting the region on track to potentially relax some outdoor masking rules next week.
Should COVID-19 hospitalizations remain under this threshold for seven consecutive days, county health officials will lift face covering requirements at outdoor “mega-events” — including those at venues such as the Hollywood Bowl, Dodger Stadium, SoFi Stadium and Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum — and outdoor spaces at K-12 schools and child care settings.
That countdown officially began Wednesday, according to state data released Thursday.
While past is not always prologue, it seems likely L.A. County will be able to lift those select rules in a week’s time, based on recent trends. In any case, the requirement will still be in force for Sunday’s Super Bowl at SoFi.
There are more than 1,000 fewer coronavirus-positive people hospitalized countywide now than at the beginning of February. And the latest hospital census is only about half that recorded at the height of the Omicron variant surge last month.
“One of the most harmful consequences of this winter surge has been the extraordinary pressure on the healthcare system, forcing many hospitals to postpone routine services and divert patients to other settings,” L.A. County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer told the Board of Supervisors earlier this week. “The return of most hospitals and healthcare facilities to providing the full range of services needed by patients and residents is an important indication of reduced danger to the county.”
However, wider relaxation of the county’s mask rules remains a ways off.
L.A. County has averaged more than 70 COVID-19 deaths a day over the past week. That’s double the peak death rate during the summer Delta wave.
Effective next Wednesday, California will officially lift the 2-month-old statewide requirement that all residents mask up in indoor public spaces.
After that date, masks will still be required for unvaccinated Californians indoors and for everyone in certain settings, such as nursing homes or while aboard public transit.
All K-12 students and staff also will still be required to wear masks indoors when at school, though state officials have indicated that guidance may soon change.
“We are getting closer and closer to making public an announcement on mask wearing in our public schools, and no one looks forward to that more than I do,” Gov. Gavin Newsom said Wednesday. “And, hopefully, in a matter of days, we’ll be putting that out.”
Even as California’s mask order is set to expire next week, health officials are still encouraging people to wear masks while transmission rates are up.
While many counties have said they plan to immediately align with the state’s revised indoor-masking guidance, L.A. County will keep that rule in place for at least a few more weeks.
When the county will follow suit hinges on one of two developments: The county either needs to record two straight weeks of “moderate” coronavirus transmission as defined by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; or COVID-19 vaccines must have been available for children ages 6 months to 4 years for eight weeks.
L.A. County’s daily tally of new cases would need to fall below 730 to meet the CDC definition. While that metric has dropped like a stone as of late, it remains 12 times higher than that target, according to data compiled by The Times.
An advisory panel to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday will consider approving the vaccine for the youngest children, and an advisory panel to the CDC is meeting the following week.
That means vaccines could become available to this age group by the end of February, which would allow L.A. County to lift its mask order by the end of April.
Most of the Bay Area will lift local indoor mask rules next week, with officials saying that the danger from COVID-19 has fallen enough to safely take the step.
Some have criticized L.A. County’s approach to lifting restrictions as too slow, continuing to subject residents and businesses to a burden that won’t be shared by the vast majority of other Californians.
County Supervisor Kathryn Barger said she’s concerned about such rules becoming “provisions that will last really in perpetuity.”
“I feel that it’s not even realistic. I mean, we’d have to completely eliminate COVID in order to get to a point where we’d be lifting most of these restrictions,” she said during Tuesday’s board meeting.
While Barger is “in support of essential measures,” she thinks “committing to keeping these in place until late spring is inconsistent with the public health approaches from across the state and the country.”
Masks will still be required for unvaccinated residents indoors and for everyone in select settings such as hospitals and nursing homes or while aboard public transit.
However, Ferrer said it’s important to recognize that, for all the recent progress, coronavirus transmission remains elevated throughout the region.
“We’re not trying to set the bar too high at all. We’re actually trying to set a reasonable bar that says to us: It’s much safer for our workers and our most vulnerable people to have masks off when there’s not as much transmission,” she said.
The county’s criteria match the CDC recommendation that vaccinated people in indoor public settings wear masks when there are 50 or more cases a week for every 100,000 residents. This equates to 730 cases a day in L.A. County.
“If there’s a way to rethink what that threshold is and not align fully with CDC, I’m completely open to that,” Ferrer said. “What I think our team doesn’t feel comfortable with … is an arbitrary date that’s actually not tied to the conditions in the community. And we feel like our risk is just way too big right now with the rate that we’re at.”
