LOS ANGELES COUNTY, Calif. — Health officials in Los Angeles County now strongly recommend that people wear masks indoors in public places, regardless of their vaccination status, to prevent the spread of the highly transmissible delta variant of the coronavirus.
The recommendation is not a mandate in the nation’s most populous county. It does not match what the state government and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say, which is that vaccinated people in certain public indoor settings do not need to be masked. Unvaccinated people are supposed to wear masks in public.
The move comes two weeks after Gov. Gavin Newsom reopened California and lifted the statewide mask mandate for people who are vaccinated against the coronavirus.
The Delta variant now constitutes 14.5% of the state's coronavirus cases analyzed in June, up from 4.7% in May, according to the California Department of Public Health.
With over 40 million vaccines administered and amongst the lowest case rates and transmission rates in the nation, the state fully reopened on June 15, eliminating pandemic-related restrictions that have been in place over the past year.
For the full story, visit the Associated Press' website.
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