County health officials on Thursday said a surge in COVID cases and hospitalizations could move Los Angeles County into the “high community level” as early as next week, which would see the return of a universal indoor masking mandate. Long Beach officials, on the other hand, say there are no plans to reinstate mandatory indoor masking at this point.
During a press conference, LA Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said new cases and hospitalizations across the county are surging.
“We could be in the ‘high community level’ as early as next week,” Ferrer said, noting that the weekly number of reported cases has been increasing by about 4% per day. The number of new cases is undercounted, she added, due to at-home testing and those who do not test at all.
If new COVID-19 hospital admissions and the number of staffed in-patient beds occupied by COVID patients continue to increase, and the case rate reaches 200 cases per 100,000 residents, “LA County will follow the CDC guidance for communities designated at the ‘high community level,’ including universal indoor masking,” Ferrer said.
The county’s case rate as of Friday is 185 new cases per 100,000 residents, health officials announced. For now, the county “strongly recommends” masking indoors.
On Friday, the county reported 4,744 new cases. The first week of November, by comparison, saw an average of less than 1,200 new cases per day countywide, LA County Public Health data shows.
In Long Beach, meanwhile, health officials are not sure when, or even if, an indoor mask mandate would return. If the city reaches a cumulative seven-day case rate of 200 per 100,000 residents, masking recommendations will go from “personal preference” to “consider masking,” according to spokesperson Jennifer Rice Epstein.
“Personal preference” means individuals can determine their own risk level, while “consider masking” means health officials recommend people consider wearing a mask indoors, according to the California Department of Public Health.
The number of daily new cases in Long Beach is also on the rise, according to Health Department data. During the week of Nov. 21, the city reported an average of nearly 119 new cases per day, compared to an average of 47 the week of Oct. 10, when several COVID metrics were at or near their most recent lows.
The city’s cumulative seven-day case rate has jumped 147% from 69.4 on Oct. 10 to 171.4 as of Thursday. For reference, a rate of 50 was the baseline for the city to consider removing its indoor mask mandate earlier this year.
Long Beach’s seven-day positivity rate also has spiked, reaching 15.7% on Thursday compared to 5% on Oct. 10.
The city no longer reports the number of patients hospitalized with the coronavirus in Long Beach-area hospitals, which includes the Memorial Long Beach Medical Center campus, along with the St. Mary, Lakewood Regional and Los Alamitos medical centers.
The city does not have a formal definition for what constitutes a surge, Rice Epstein said, “but we are treating this as a surge.” Fortunately, she added, the surge seems to be the result of the BQ1 variant, for which the bivalent booster appears to be effective.
The county has averaged more than eight COVID deaths per day over the last week, but deaths in Long Beach remain uncommon. Since Sept. 28, Long Beach health officials have reported nine coronavirus deaths.
In addition to the coronavirus surge, the flu is circulating in Long Beach at a “very high rate,” Rice Epstein said. The city has reported 1,170 flu cases so far this year, compared to only 48 at this time last year.
Despite the high circulation and number of infections, the city has reported no flu-related deaths this season, according to city data.
Health officials urge everyone to stay home when they are sick, wash their hands thoroughly and regularly and get vaccinated against the flu and coronavirus, including staying up to date on vaccinations.
“We have so many respiratory viruses circulating right now,” Rice Epstein said. “It’s critical for people to do what they can to protect themselves and their loved ones.”