Is LA County changing its masking guidance because of the Delta coronavirus variant?
On June 28, 2021, the Los Angeles County health department updated masking advice in light of the much more transmissible Delta variant of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19. The department “strongly” recommended that “everyone, regardless of vaccination status, wear masks indoors in public places as a precautionary measure.”
In a TV interview, Centers for Disease Control Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said that while local policy makers are encouraged to offer advice suited to local conditions, vaccinated people do not need to wear masks. “If you're vaccinated you are safe from the variants that are circulating here” in the U.S., she said. The masking policies “protect the unvaccinated.”
She noted that World Health Organization advice to continue social distancing as well as masking reflects the much lower level of vaccinations and higher infection rates prevailing outside the U.S.