California health officials are once again asking people to wear masks in indoor public spaces throughout the state, regardless of their vaccination status, as COVID cases surge from the Delta variant.
The measure is not a mandate, state health officials said on Wednesday, but rather a request, as 90 percent of the state's population resides in high-transmission areas and an increased number of people who are fully vaccinated against the virus are being diagnosed with it.
'The Delta variant has caused a sharp increase in hospitalizations and case rates across the state,' Dr. Thomas Aragon, director of the California Department Public Health, said in a statement to the Los Angeles Times Wednesday.
'We are recommending masking in indoor public places to slow the spread while we continue efforts to get more Californians vaccinated.'
'This adds an extra precautionary measure for all to reduce the transmission of COVID-19, especially in communities currently seeing the highest transmission rates,' the new guidance explains.
California health officials are asking everyone to wear a mask indoors as cases in the state continue to surge, even among those that have been vaccinated. The new guidance comes just a few days after California Governor Gavin Newsom (pictured) announced that all state and health care employees would either have to be vaccinated or submit to regular testing
Los Angeles county has already reinstated its mask policy indoors as the Delta variant spreads
It comes as Los Angeles county health officials announce that a full quarter of new COVID cases are among those who are fully vaccinated. The county has now required everyone to once again wear a mask.
The county has been averaging between 2,000 to 2,500 new COVID cases each day for the past week, FOX 11 reports, noting that between July 1 and July 16, the county recorded 13,598 cases, which included 3,592 among those who are fully vaccinated.
Health officials note, however, that the vaccines are effective and breakthrough cases are to be expected with any vaccine.
According to their data, they said at a Board of Supervisors meeting, just 0.27 percent of those who were fully vaccinated with the Johnson and Johnson vaccine tested positive for COVID, as did 0.09 percent of those who were fully vaccinated with the Moderna shot and 0.15 percent of those who were fully vaccinated with the Pfizer vaccine.
'As more people are vaccinated, the number of fully vaccinated people becoming infected will increase with the Delta variant that's far more infectious,' Barbara Ferrer, the public health director said, according to the local news station.
'Estimates are that this is the most infectious respiratory virus we've seen in a long time, and it's certainly the most infectious variant we've seen.'
She added that COVID exposures have also increased as the Delta variant spreads, with health officials reporting a nine-fold increase in cases among adults between the ages of 18 and 29.
There were 6,849 new cases reported throughout the state on Wednesday, according to the California Department of Public Health, with an average of 12.7 new cases per 100,000 residents over the week.
Additionally, the state reported that 378 more patients had been hospitalized on Wednesday than the day before, with 38 new deaths.
The state is now facing a 5.9 percent rolling seven-day positivity rate, despite 62.3 percent of the population being fully vaccinated.
According to the Centers for Disease Control, the Delta variant is now responsible for about 83 percent of all reported COVID cases throughout the country.
Los Angeles County is seeing a rise in COVID cases among those who have been vaccinated, health officials announced Wednesday
COVID cases are also rising throughout the country, with the CDC estimating that 83 percent of all cases are from the Indian Delta variant
Deaths, meanwhile, have remained rather stagnant throughout the country
Governor Gavin Newsom has said he fears the situation may only get worse.
'Our projections are sobering,' he told a group of journalists earlier this week, the LA Times reports.
'Our projections are, over the course of the next number of weeks, we'll show a significant increase in hospitalizations if we continue down this path.'
To combat the spread, the governor announced on Monday he would require all state and health care workers to submit to regular COVID-19 testing if they haven't gotten the shot.
State employees will have to submit a proof of vaccination by August 2 and health care workers would have to submit proof of vaccinations by August 23.
Any state employee that does not provide a proof of vaccination will have to get tested once a week, and any health care worker who does not get vaccinated would have to submit to testing twice a week. They would also be required to wear masks at all times.
'We are now dealing with a pandemic of the unvaccinated, and it's going to take renewed efforts to protect Californians from the dangerous Delta variant,' Newsom said the following day, FOX News reports.
'As the state's largest employer, we are leading by example and requiring all state and health care workers to show proof of vaccination or be tested regularly, and we are encouraging local governments and businesses to do the same.'
Some Los Angeles restaurants that have prevailed through the pandemic lockdowns are now closing their doors as cases rise, mainly due to the Indian 'Delta' Covid variant. Bottega Louie, in West Hollywood, shared its reasoning on its Instagram page Monday
The Village Idiot, in the Melrose area of Los Angeles, also posted on Instagram that it would close for an undetermined
