L.A. County Urges: Wear Masks Indoors to Prevent Delta Variant — Even If Vaccinated

Los Angeles County is recommending that people return to wearing masks in indoor settings due to the risk of spreading the highly contagious Delta variant of the COVID-19 virus, regardless of whether or not individuals are vaccinated.

In an announcement Monday, the L.A. County Department of Public Health said:

With increase circulation of the highly transmissible Delta variant, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health (Public Health) strongly recommends everyone, regardless of vaccination status, wear masks indoors in public places as a precautionary measure. In the week ending June 12, Delta variants comprised of nearly half of all variants sequenced in Los Angeles County. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) noted that Delta variants are now responsible for about one in every five new infections across the country, up from approximately one in every 10 the week before.

Public Health strongly recommends people wear masks indoors in settings such as grocery or retail stores; theaters and family entertainment centers, and workplaces when you don’t know everyone’s vaccination status. Until we better understand how and to who the Delta variant is spreading, everyone should focus on maximum protection with minimum interruption to routine as all businesses operate without other restrictions, like physical distancing and capacity limits.

Fully vaccinated people appear to be well protected from infections with Delta variants, however people with only one vaccine dose of Pfizer or Moderna are not as well-protected. The smaller number of COVID-19 infections identified in people who are fully vaccinated have been mild illnesses.

The Los Angeles Times notes that the Delta variant, first identified in India, is known to have infected 123 people thus far in the county, and has become the third-most common in California. It adds: “Of L.A. County’s confirmed Delta cases, 49 have been among residents of Palmdale and Lancaster. Fourteen cases were in people from a single household.”

The State of California only fully reopened on June 15, two weeks ago, including the relaxation of most mask mandates.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. His recent book, RED NOVEMBER, tells the story of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary from a conservative perspective. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.