"While this is not forever, we are encouraging a continued focus on sensible safety measures for a little while longer," she said. County's public health director, Barbara Ferrer, said we're not out of the woods just yet. Still, even as those advances have helped push down cases and hospitalizations, L.A. Over the past two years, we've endured surges, new variants, and seen a whirlwind of restrictions come and go.īut living with the virus has gotten easier, with the introduction of vaccines and new treatments to fight the disease. In Orange County, the death toll is close to 6,800, with well over half a million confirmed cases. County has logged 2.8 million COVID cases, and the virus has claimed the lives of more than 31,000 people. “Obviously, if there’s emerging information that requires us to rethink the safety messaging, we’ll be coming back both to the board and to the public.Since then, L.A. “We need people to be sensible and cautious, and we’re going to pay a lot of attention to the science,” Ferrer said. While wearing masks in public, avoiding indoor crowded settings and, especially, getting vaccinated all afford some degree of protection, those tools work best when used together. Health officials have long stressed the importance of taking a layered approach to combating the coronavirus. “I think if we didn’t have that requirement, we probably would be suggesting that, because that is the next line of defense.” “Obviously, if the vaccines aren’t as effective, those masks are super important, and we already have a requirement on masking,” she said. It already has become the dominant variant in South Africa. With its “unusual constellation of mutations,” Ferrer said, Omicron could be more infectious than other variants. Anthony Fauci, Biden’s chief medical advisor for the pandemic, said in a briefing. Omicron is getting attention because of its many mutations - around 50, far more than in previous variants, Dr. Also unknown is whether the newly discovered strain, which has yet to be found in the United States, might cause more severe disease or potentially evade some of the protective power afforded by existing vaccines. 11 in Botswana and three days later in South Africa - can spread as easily as the still-dominant Delta variant. It’s unclear whether Omicron - which was first detected Nov. and throughout California are nowhere close to publicly discussing the kind of stringent restrictions that were in effect at this time last year, when a round of regional stay-at-home orders shut down or severely constrained many aspects of the state’s economy and residents’ lives. Similar but more expansive rules in the city of Los Angeles cover a host of additional businesses, including indoor restaurants, gyms and movie theaters.īut despite the worries accompanying the new variant and the approach of winter, officials in L.A. The county also requires patrons and employees of indoor bars, wineries, breweries, distilleries, nightclubs and lounges to show proof that they’ve been fully vaccinated for COVID-19. They include a blanket mandate for residents to wear masks in indoor public spaces, regardless of whether they’ve been vaccinated. County’s existing COVID-19 rules are already among the strictest in the state. “At this moment, we have really, I think, sensible precautions in place,” Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer told the county Board of Supervisors. No significant new coronavirus-related restrictions are planned in Los Angeles County following the emergence of the Omicron variant, a top health official said Tuesday.
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