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LA County mask mandate ends Friday as COVID metrics improve BY CITY NEWS SERVICE
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ndoor mask-wearing is no longer mandatory in Los Angeles County, thanks to a new health order that took effect Friday in response to federal data showing a decreased impact of COVID-19 on the county’s health- care system. Effective at midnight, mask-wearing went from mandatory to “strongly recommended” in most indoor spaces across the county. Masking is still required in higher-risk settings, including health care facilities, transit centers, airports, aboard public transit, in correctional facilities and at homeless shelters and long-term care facilities. Indoor masks also continue to be required on K-12 school campuses, although the county and state will lift that requirement on March 12. The policy, however, is expected to remain in place in the Los Angeles Unified School District until the end of the school year. Despite the easing of the requirement, county officials noted that individual businesses can still opt to require face coverings. People are also free to wear masks whenever they see fit, particularly in crowded settings or while interacting with people at higher risk of
| Photo courtesy of Michael Burrows/Pexels
severe illness from the virus. Ferrer warned Thursday that despite the lifting of COVID-related mandates, people shouldn’t think that life is completely returning to normal. “It’s very tempting to think the pandemic is over and we can return to the way things were before the pandemic,” she said. “And while transmission has
greatly slowed and we’re in a much better place with our powerful tools that help so many avoid the worst effects of this virus, there do continue to be thousands of people whose lives, families and work are disrupted each day because either they or someone close to them is newly infected with COVID19. And for some of these people, their infection can
and will lead to more severe illness.” County Board of Supervisors Chair Holly Mitchell echoed that sentiment, noting that while countywide COVID metrics are improving, there are individual communities that have higher case rates and more susceptibility to the virus. She said that “as we move
back into our new status of low risk,” it should be clear “at the community level that we can’t have a one-sizefits-all approach to ongoing prevention practices.” “And so, again, hoping people will do what’s best for them, their families and their communities in choosing to continue to mask or not,” she said. “We need to be conscientious
and follow the guidance, really making sure we’re prioritizing the needs of the county as a whole with common-sense protections that really enable everyone to thrive.” The mask mandate was lifted following data released Thursday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that officially moved the county out of the CDC’s “high” virus activity category and into the “low” category. The CDC updates its countylevel data every Thursday. The CDC designations are based largely on the number of new virus- related hospital admissions and on the percentage of hospital beds being occupied by COVID-positive patients, along with a county’s overall rate of new COVID cases. Ferrer noted that people attending indoor mega-events of 1,000 or more people -- such as sporting events -- will still be required to show proof of COVID vaccination or a recent negative test to be admitted. Vaccine verification or a negative test will also still be required for workers at health care facilities and congregate-care facilities.
See Mask mandate Page 3
L.A. anti-vax doctor pleads guilty to role in Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol breach BY CITY NEWS SERVICE
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Los Angeles-area doctor known for spreading misinformation about the COVID-19 vaccine pleaded guilty Thursday to storming the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 and will cooperate with the government’s investigation.
Simone Gold entered her plea in Washington, D.C., to a Class-A misdemeanor count of unlawfully entering and remaining in a restricted building, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the District of Columbia. Gold faces up to a year of jail time or probation
when she is sentenced on June 16. She will also pay $500 in restitution to help with the millions of dollars in repairs required after the riot. The Beverly Hills woman and an associate entered the Capitol as the crowd of Donald Trump supporters overran police and swarmed
the building in an attempt to block Congress from certifying Joe Biden’s win in the 2020 presidential election. Federal prosecutors say that while inside Statuary Hall, Gold gave a speech opposing vaccine mandates and government-imposed COVID-19 lockdowns. Video of Gold’s speech posted on
the internet shows police trying to clear the building. In a speech she gave on Jan. 5, 2021, at Freedom Plaza in Washington, D.C., Gold reportedly told a group of Trump supporters that the coronavirus vaccine was an “experimental, biological agent deceptively named a vaccine.”
Gold is founder of the right-wing anti-vax group America’s Frontline Doctors. The Medical Board of California’s database shows she is currently licensed to practice medicine in the state. She describes herself on LinkedIn as a concierge physician.