Alhambra PRESS
Teachers strike and Gaga snubbed: Deja News Feb. 11
From Valentines Day to Endless Night: Hey SoCalendar Feb 14-20
VISIT ALHAMBRAPRESS.COM
Thursday, February 17- February 23, 2022
Local. Relevant. Trusted.
VOL. 10,
NO. 57
State lifts indoor mask-wearing rule, stays in place in LA County By City News Service
T
he state of California lifted its COVID-19 indoor mask-wearing requirement for vaccinated people Wednesday, but Los Angeles County will continue enforcing its own indoor face-covering rule, despite growing dissent among the Board of Supervisors. Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger previously called on the county to align with the state and lift its indoor mask mandate, saying it creates too much confusion and frustration among residents to have stricter local rules. On Tuesday, Supervisor Janice Hahn joined Barger in that call -- pointing to rampant violations of the county's outdoor maskwearing rule during Sunday's Super Bowl at SoFi Stadium. "Businesses, schools and churches were fined or shut down for far less," Hahn said during Tuesday's board meeting. "And yet it seems like when we have something high-profile, like the Super Bowl or the Emmys, the rules just don't seem to matter any more.
| Photo courtesy of Max Pixel
"I believe that our health orders are only effective if people believe in them, if they think they are fair and if they follow them," she said. "And keeping mandates in place that aren't followed just erodes the credibility the public has in us as policymakers to make good sound deci-
sions. And I think the longer we drag our feet on lifting the indoor mask mandate, the more out of step we get from the state and more trust that we're losing from the public." The other three members of the Board of Supervisors -- Holly Mitchell, Hilda Solis and Sheila Kuehl -- so far still
support leaving the county's indoor mask mandate in place until criteria outlined by Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer are met. Gov. Gavin Newsom announced last week that the indoor mask mandate in most other locations would be lifted for vaccinated people as of
Wednesday morning, noting a 65% drop in the virus infection rate since the peak of the winter surge caused by the Omicron variant of COVID19, as well as a stabilization in hospitalization numbers. But he stressed that "unvaccinated people will still need to wear masks indoors."
The mask-wearing requirement will also remain in effect for everyone in other select indoor locations -- schools, public transit centers, airports, emergency shelters, health care facilities, correctional facilities, homeless shelters and long-term care and seniorcare facilities. Unvaccinated people will have to continue wearing masks in indoor settings such as retail stores, restaurants, theaters and government offices. It will be left to individual businesses to enforce the rule. On Monday, the state announced it will continue requiring indoor masking at schools until at least Feb. 28, when health officials plan to reassess pandemic metrics and determine if that rule can be lifted. The announcement came despite earlier indications from Newsom that the school mask rule would be lifted, but he received some pushback from teachers' unions. The state's decision to lift the indoor mask-wearing mandate in most other locations will affect counties that See Indoor maskwearing Page 6
California school mask mandate could lift at month’s end By City News Service
D
espite indications the state was on the verge of lifting its mask-wearing requirement in schools, California's Health and Human Services secretary said Monday the requirement will remain
in place for now, pending a Feb. 28 reassessment of COVID-19 case rates and other pandemic metrics. Dr. Mark Ghaly said a lifting of the mandate is inevitable, saying it is just "a question of when." He expressed confidence that the mandate would
be lifted sometime after that Feb. 28 reassessment, barring another sudden spike in virus infection rates and hospitalizations. He noted that if the Feb. 28 assessment supports lifting the mandate, it would not happen immediately on March 1. He said
the state would set a date that gives school districts, staff and parents time to prepare for the change. Ghaly gave a lengthy presentation noting significant downward trends over the past month statewide in COVID case rates, hospitalizations and
testing positivity rates. But he said as far as schools are concerned, the state is only "close to a point" where it could lift the mask mandate for students and staff, so no immediate change will be made. He said he respects that many parents who have
been calling for a lifting of the mandate will be upset by the decision, but he insisted there are others who maintain uncertainty about whether lifting the requirement in schools is
See Mask mandate Pg 15
