L.A. County Sheriff Alex Villanueva is protesting the latest county mask mandate. This applies to both unvaccinated and vaccinated people while they are indoors in the county.
On Friday, the sheriff released the statement that clarifies that his department won’t be following the new mandate.
“Forcing the vaccinated and those who already contracted COVID-19 to wear masks indoors is not backed by science and contradicts the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines,” the sheriff stated. “The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health (DPH) has authority to enforce the order, but the underfunded/defunded Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department will not expend our limited resources and instead ask for voluntary compliance. We encourage the DPH to work collaboratively with the Board of Supervisors and law enforcement to establish mandates that are both achievable and supported by science.”
According to the sheriff’s statement, it refers to a “defund the police” measure that was passed in November. This came before an increasing wave of violent crime.
“Los Angeles voters have approved Measure J, also known as ‘Reimagine LA County,’ which requires that 10 percent of the city’s unrestricted general funds — estimated between $360 million and $900 million per year — be invested in social services and alternatives to incarceration, not prisons and policing,” Vox noted.
It appears that the funds were not wisely spent. Los Angeles has seen a rise in violent crime and homicides.
“If the current pace of killings continues, L.A. would end the year with about 433 homicides — a sharp increase over the 254 killings recorded in 2019,” the L.A. Times reported, noting “that 2020 — with 349 killings — was a very unusual year for homicides with a small increase in killings in the first half of the year, followed by a dramatic rise in the second. “
Despite the fact that COVID-19 cases rose, implementation of the L.A. County mask mandate was delayed by three days.
“The mandate — which applies to both vaccinated and unvaccinated people in shops, gyms and retail stores, as well as restaurants when not eating or drinking — takes effect just before midnight on Saturday,” the New York Post reported.
The COVID-19 “Delta variation” has caused a rise in cases in the county. However, the daily death with COVID is still modest at 2 per day.
Supervisor Kathryn Barger tweeted Friday that the mask mandate is not helpful with the imperative to get more people vaccinated.
“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,” she tweeted.
“LA County should remain aligned with the State instead of creating confusion and disagreement at the local level.”
However, despite public confusion caused by L.A. County’s new mask mandate which failed to stop the spread COVID in significant ways the first time around, seven additional counties now recommend that masks be worn indoors even for those who have been vaccinated. This is a recommendation, at best.
