California Recommends Wearing Face Mask Indoors Amid Delta Variant Spread
A man adjusts his American flag face mask on July 19, 2021 on a street in Hollywood, California, on the second day of the return of the indoor mask mandate in Los Angeles County due to a spike in coronavirus cases. - The US surgeon general on July 18 defended a renewed mask mandate in Los Angeles, saying other areas may have to follow and adding that he is "deeply concerned" about the Covid-19 outlook in the fall. LA County reported another 1,233 Covid-19 cases, the 11th consecutive day the number has topped 1,000. ROBYN BECK/AFP via Getty Images

California health officials have recommended wearing masks again in public indoor settings due to the jump in COVID cases and hospitalizations as the Delta variant continues to spread.

Dr. Tomás J. Aragón, CDPH Director and State Public Health Officer, said the Delta variant had caused a spike in hospitalizations and cases across the state, KCRA News reported.

This week, Yolo County had joined Los Angeles County in mandating masking indoors, with many other counties across the state also recommending wearing face masks indoor. However, most have not mandated it until now.

More than 90 percent of California's population lives in areas where the virus spread is significant. California has also indicated that it will mandate masks for all adults and children in public K-12 schools.

The Bay Area has high vaccination rates. However, the Delta variant continues to spread quickly among the vaccinated, which had caused surges in the region's counties.

CDC on Mask Mandate

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has already revised its guidance and recommended vaccinated people resume wearing masks indoors and in high-risk areas.

The CDC noted that vaccination alone does not protect against the delta variant of the coronavirus. It added that breakthrough infections could happen in those who have received their vaccine shots.

The CDC said new data showed that vaccinated people could spread the virus as efficiently as those who have not received their vaccine doses, San Francisco Chronicle reported.

CDC Director Rochelle Walensky noted that she knows this is not a message that the American people want to hear right now. But she said with the Delta variant, they can now see that people who are vaccinated can pass the virus to somebody else.

Masks are again required for members of the House side of the U.S. Capitol due to the rising rates of COVID cases. The reimplemented mandate stated that members, whether vaccinated or not, must wear a "medical-grade, filtration face mask" during meetings while inside House office buildings, NPR reported.

The order came from Congress' attending physician, Dr. Brian Monahan. However, the new rule does not apply to members of the Senate. Private sectors are also making a move against the rising number of COVID cases, such as mandating vaccines to their employees.

Google became the first tech company to require vaccinations of their employees. Facebook followed suit shortly afterward, saying it will make vaccines mandatory for U.S. employees who work in offices.

Both tech giants have said they would consider exceptions for medical and other reasons, USA Today reported. Google CEO Sundar Pichai said the policy would go into effect in the U.S. in the coming weeks, while offices abroad would follow in the following months.

Delta Variant of COVID-19

The CDC has determined that the Delta variant can spread more quickly, with its mutations on the spike protein making it easier to infect human cells.

Delta variant is found to be about 50 percent more contagious as compared to the Alpha variant, WebMD reported. Public health experts noted that an average person infected with Delta variant could spread it to three or four other people.

Yale Medicine said this is higher compared with one or two other people infected through the original COVID strain.

This article is owned by Latin Post

Written by: Mary Webber

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