LOS ANGELES (KNX) — Come Jan. 17, all indoor workers in Los Angeles County will have to toss out their cloth face coverings and replace them with medical-grade masks. The new rules, announced by the Department of Public Health Wednesday, apply to all indoor employees.
“As cases continue to surge as a result of the increased circulation of the highly transmissible Omicron variant, Public Health has modified its Health Officer Order to include additional safety measures to reduce transmission risks knowing that vaccinations alone are not sufficient to prevent spread of Omicron,” health officials said in a statement.
The update to qualified masks was made, health officials said, because medical-grade masks and KN95 masks are better at blocking virus particles.
The new modifications include an update to “mega event” guidelines - which lower the attendance threshold to 5,000 attendees for outdoor events and just 500 attendees for indoor mega events.
Health officials said compliance of masking requirements must be enforced unless spectators or customers are actively eating or drinking — and they recommend that those actions are only done in “designated dining areas.”
Eating and drinking will also now be prohibited at all “card room gaming tables” and masks must stay over the mouth and nose of customers during their whole visit unless in the designated dining areas, health officials said.
“Given the explosive spread of the virus, activities that put us in close contact with many other people now have an increased risk,” Barbara Ferrer, the director of Public Health, said.
“At work, this means upgrading your mask if you work indoors and you are in contact with other workers or members of the public. At entertainment venues, this means limiting the time you spend without wearing your upgraded mask. And for other activities, this may mean postponing your participation until community transmission is much reduced.”
Wednesday, Public Health reported 27 new deaths and 26,754 new cases of COVID-19 - bringing the positivity rate to 22.4%. To date, the total number of Angelenos who have lost their lives to the virus is 27,698 and more than 1.8 million people have contracted the virus.
“There are 2,240 people with COVID-19 currently hospitalized. Testing results are available for more than 10,159,295 individuals, with 16% of people testing positive,” health officials said.
Follow KNX News 97.1 FM
Twitter | Facebook | Instagram
Related
Related
