Photo: Adobe Stock
Los Angeles County, one of the most progressive counties in the entire nation, has officially abandoned plans to reimpose indoor masking regulations.
According to a report from Just the News, L.A. County Public Health Department Director Dr. Barbara Ferrer backed off from her push to reinstate indoor masking, citing “declines in case of hospitalization numbers.”
California state Rep. Kevin Kiley (R), who is additionally a Trump-endorsed Republican nominee for U.S. Congress, touted the refusal of several Southern California cities to consider implementing a new mask mandate.
He wrote, “I applaud the cities of Pasadena, Beverly Hills, and Long Beach for refusing to enforce Barbara Ferrer’s corrupt mask mandate. Enough.”
Before Ferrer’s announcement that the city would roll back the mask mandate, NBC Los Angeles reported that Manhattan Beach, Long Beach, Beverly Hills, and Pasadena swiftly indicated that they would not comply with L.A. County’s attempt to impose mask restrictions again.
Just the News reported that Ferrer additionally commented that it was “hard for us to imagine reinstating universal indoor masking when we’re on this significant of a decline,” while simultaneously warning that mask mandates could potentially return if there are “increases in hospital admissions.”
However, the prospect of reimplementing universal indoor masking drew the ire of Californians and health experts alike. The pushback of several major L.A. cities on the mandate likely influenced the Health Department’s decision to cease their efforts to tighten regulations.
Dr. Jay Bhattacharya commented during an interview on Fox News’ “The Ingraham Angle” that, “I just can’t fathom that a public health profession looking at the data on mask mandates in the past, completely making no dent on case rates, then concluding that we need another mask mandate. I mean, the case rates are coming down in L.A. County without a mask mandate…They have this illusion of control over the spread of the virus that they cannot let go.”
Los Angeles had previously dropped indoor mask mandates for students in the early spring, following months of pushback from parents who preferred masking to be optional for their children.