Health Officials Consider Mask Mandatory as Increase in Covid Cases and Hospitalizations

This week, a team of public health officials across the country has come up with one word: “Masks.”

“Everyone over the age of two should wear the mask indoors and outdoors, such as workplaces, restaurants, and schools,” Los Angeles County Director of Public Health Barbara Ferrer told reporters on Zoom today.

Similarly, last Friday, a group of health officials issued a rare joint statement strongly recommending – but not mandatory – that building occupants re-cover their faces.

“If you’ve decided not to wear masks in closed public places, now is a good time to start over,” George Hahn, deputy health officer for Santa Clara County, told the San Francisco Chronicle.

A little further south, the Pacific Grove Unified School District in Monterey, California, decided Monday. Mission Masks are worn indoors by all students and staff from Tuesday as infections escalate.

School districts in Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Illinois did the same this week.

Biden Administration Officials Alerted Wednesday, one-third of Americans live in communities the CDC considers high-risk (orange on map below) and recommends wearing masks in those areas.

“We urge local leaders to encourage the use of prevention strategies such as masks in a confined environment and to increase access to testing and treatment,” said Rochelle Valensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

About two weeks ago, the CDC issued a new recommendation that all two-year-olds “wear masks in closed areas of public transportation (plane, train, etc.) and transportation hubs (airports, stations, etc.). ) The CDC also urges people to wear face masks “in crowded or poorly ventilated areas, such as airport planes.”

New York, where the toughest cases were experienced last year, will not return to masks despite being in the high risk category this week due to increased hospitalizations. Mayor Eric Adams said he did not want a masked mandate, despite the CDC’s recommendation.

“If every option comes our way, we consider closing it, we panic, we won’t act like a city,” Adams said. According to the New York Times.

Do you think for schools? “No,” Adams replied.

In Los Angeles, where Ferrer repeated last week and echoed some versions of what he said today, the answer is different: “Once we appoint a senior public, we will bring demand for these masks back into the building.”

The country isn’t there yet, but the increased rate of spread of Covid in Los Angeles has caused the CDC virus to go from “low” to “medium” today.

According to federal and county data, the seven-day cumulative local cumulative new case rate rose from about 176 to 100,000 last week, to 202 per 100,000 population. As the number exceeds 200, he noted that while the country is now considered “average” levels of society, recommendations to increase measures against the spread of the virus are being followed.

However, this move will not lead to any sudden changes in local health regulations. LA has already strengthened preventative advice aligned with CDC guidelines, such as masks on public transportation and in high-risk conditions such as hospitals, doctor’s offices, and homeless shelters.

“We hope we can prevent escalation by taking strong preventative community measures,” Ferrer told reporters.

He noted that this means “companies and individuals should not avoid stricter security measures,” including internal masks.

According to CDC guidelines, middle-class countries will rise to the top if hospital admission rates for new viruses reach 10 per 100,000 people, or if 10% of the nation’s staffed hospital beds have COVID-positive patients.

Ferrer said today that the current rate of new Covid beneficiaries in the country is 3.4 per 100,000 people, while the hospital bed rate for positive COVID patients is less than 1.7%.

However, about a week ago, daily hospitalizations of Kovid patients started in the region. They passed 312 positive patients who contracted the virus in country hospitals for 327 Tuesdays, 363 Wednesdays and 379 days this Monday, up from 252 last Thursday. While the numbers are still relatively small, this has increased by about 50% in one week.

In the same period, the number of cases rose 38% in a week to 4,725 from 3,407 last Thursday.

The average daily rate of people testing positive for the virus, albeit relatively low, rose 34% from the 7-day positive test last Thursday to 3.5% from 2.6% today.

The increase in cases and positive results seem to point to a significant increase in Covid-related hospitalizations by the end of the month, as hospitalization usually delays infections for several weeks.

City News Service contributed to this report.