(Los Angeles, CA) — Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva says he won’t enforce the new mask mandate that is now in effect. He issued a statement saying his department is underfunded and that he will not expend limited resources to ensure residents are following the order. The county is insisting — without providing scientific evidence and ignoring CDC dictates–everyone wear masks indoors in public spaces even if they are vaccinated because of a sharp rise in cases, many of them tied to the delta variant. There were more than 19-hundred new cases and six deaths tied to COVID-19 in the county on Friday.
L.A. County Health Officer Dr. Muntu Davis said “We expect to keep this order in place until we begin to see improvements,” giving no specific target and offering no scientific reason for the re-masking.
Supervisor Kathryn Barger tweeted:
I am concerned by rising cases, but I don’t believe the mask mandate will help efforts to stress vaccine efficacy and compel unvaccinated residents to get vaccinated. LA County should remain aligned with the State instead of creating confusion and disagreement at the local level.