Los Angeles County is now recommending that people wear masks inside to prevent the spread of the Delta variant of COVID-19, only weeks after the state lifted its coronavirus restrictions and notably changed its mask guidance.
Earlier this week, CNN reported, “In Los Angeles County, the pace of Delta’s spread has prompted officials to reinstate mask guidance for public indoor spaces — regardless of vaccination status. The new, voluntary mask guidance is needed until health officials can ‘better understand how and to who the Delta variant is spreading,’ the county’s department of public health said.”
As reported by CBS Los Angeles on Tuesday, “Due to the rate of spread of the variant, first detected in India, health officials have issued a strong recommendation for people to wear masks indoors in settings such a grocery or retail stores; theaters and family entertainment centers and workplaces where vaccination status is not immediately known.”
The local outlet added:
As for the city of Los Angeles, Mayor Eric Garcetti said it would be following the county’s indoor mask recommendations.
“This is becoming a pandemic among the unvaccinated, and this Delta variant is stronger, it’s more deadly, it spreads more quickly and it’s, right now, on the verge of becoming the majority of cases here in L.A. county.”
Currently, the new indoor mask guidance remains a recommendation and not a requirement. And while medical experts disagree on whether to resume wearing face coverings at indoor public locations, they all agreed that the best defense against the virus was to get fully vaccinated.
As the new variant of the coronavirus makes its way into the United States and Americans are vaccinated at a slower rate, some in the liberal media continue to push the idea that COVID-19 is a present threat.
The New York Times published a piece this week, titled, “Why You Still Might Want to Have a Home Covid Test on Hand” that explained why readers might benefit from being able to test themselves for COVID-19 at home.
The outlet wrote, “Got the sniffles? Worried about that night out in a crowded dance club? Or maybe you just want to visit grandma but are concerned about her risk, even though you’re vaccinated.”
“In most cases, regular home testing isn’t necessary for someone who is fully vaccinated. The current crop of vaccines available in the United States have been shown to be effective against the variants, including Delta. But no vaccine is 100 percent protective, and breakthrough infections, though rare, continue to occur,” the Times added.
Though vaccines appear to be highly effective at preventing someone from contracting COVID-19, the fear of spreading the virus is still a factor in certain circles of American society. Instead of moving forward and past the pandemic, it appears that some would rather keep the possibility of illness at the forefront.
The Times listed several “scenarios where a rapid home test might be useful for vaccinated or unvaccinated people” including “[a]fter traveling on an airplane or spending time in an airport or a crowded bar. (While a vaccinated person does not need to be regularly tested after travel, a home test could be used as a precaution after spending extended time indoors with people whose vaccination status isn’t known.)” It also stated that the tests could be helpful “[f]or unvaccinated children, who could be tested periodically before going to camp or school or right before a birthday party.”
As reported by Reuters last week, the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is still believed to be highly effective against the Delta variant.
“The data we have today, accumulating from research we are conducting at the lab and including data from those places where the Indian variant, Delta, has replaced the British variant as the common variant, point to our vaccine being very effective, around 90%, in preventing the coronavirus disease, COVID-19,” Alon Rappaport, Pfizer’s medical director in Israel, told local broadcaster Army Radio, per the outlet.
“A study by researchers from the University of Texas together with Pfizer and BioNtech and published this month by Nature journal found that antibodies elicited by the vaccine were still able to neutralize all tested variants, including Delta, albeit at reduced strength,” Reuters reported.
Viruses have been around for generations and will continue to be. As scientists develop new ways to combat the coronavirus and new strains emerge, many are continuing to voice opposition to government-enforced lockdowns or limitations of people’s liberties.