Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department won’t enforce county mask mandate
Friday the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s office announced they will not be enforcing the new mask mandate put into place by the county’s Public Health Office. Instead, the Sheriff’s office will be asking the public to voluntarily wear their mask following the order. The order says everyone vaccinated or not need to wear a mask indoors.
Back in June, California lifted the mask mandate starting on the 15th. California was using a tiered reopening plan. But on Thursday, the Los Angeles Public Health office issued an updated order that went into effect Saturday night at midnight. They say this is to combat the increasing transmission rates of COVID-19 in the county.
Sheriff Alex Villanueva wrote in a statement, “Forcing the vaccinated and those who already contracted COVID-19 to wear face masks indoors is not backed by science and contradicts the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines.”
Villanueva went on to say in his statement that although the county’s public health office does have the right to update the mandate the Sheriff’s department will not be enforcing it. Villanueva said in the statement, “The underfunded/defunded Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department will not expend our limited resources and instead ask for voluntary compliance.”
Over the last week more than a 1,000 cases per day have been reported in the county according to Dr. Muntu Davis the county’s public health officer. He warned the public of the more transmissible and deadly Delta variant that the CDC says accounts for than 60% of new COVID-19 cases in America.
Approximately 10.7 million doses of the vaccine have been administered in Las Angeles County. Dr. Muntu Davis called that “disappointing” Thursday.
There has been some backlash from this new order that was put into effect Saturday. Opposers say it will tell the people that aren’t getting vaccinated that the vaccines don’t work and they shouldn’t get vaccinated. On the other hand, people in support of the updated order say it will cause people to go that extra mile and get vaccinated so the new order will be removed again.
