Photo: FREDERIC J. BROWN / AFP / Getty Images
Although several officials do not like the idea of imposing the use of masks indoors in several California counties, including the city of Los Angeles, they are asking citizens to take precautions and follow the order that starts this Sunday.
“I would say that it is not a punishment, it is a prevention”, said Hilda Solís, president of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors at ABC News. “We still have 4 million people for every 10 million who have not been vaccinated.”
The order requires the use of masks in all indoor environments , except for eating or drinking.
“I’m not pleased that we have to use the masks again in this matter, but… it’s going to save lives… and right now, for me, that’s the most important thing,” he said.
Additionally, San Francisco Bay Area health officials announced facial protection recommendations, including vaccinated individuals.
Last Friday, at a press conference, health officials from eight counties in the California Bay Area warned about the importance of returning to face protection, due to the increase in contagions with the Delta variant.
In Los Angeles s, the mandate came after the county experienced a 700% increase in its positivity rate in June .
Sheriff Alex Villanueva announced that his department would not enforce the new mandate , because –According to him– “it was not backed by science.”
“The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, with insufficient or no funds funds, you will not spend our limited resources and will instead ask for voluntary compliance, ”he said in a statement.
Villanueva, of Latino origin, does not take into consideration that the most affected population, Latinos are the most likely to die from the increase in cases, indicates research published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine .
“Even among a population of Medic aid who are similarly economically disadvantaged, Latinos are facing the unfair burden of this deadly pandemic, ”said study co-author Mireille Jacobson, associate professor at USC’s Leonard Davis School of Gerontology.