Long Beach aligns with LA County to keep mask mandate in place, despite new state guidance

California will end mask mandate on Feb. 15, LA County will not align with state's changes

California will end its statewide indoor mask mandate on Feb. 15. However, on a local level, the mandate will stay put in Los Angeles County, according to the county's health officials.

LONG BEACH, Calif. - The city of Long Beach will align with Los Angeles County by keeping its current masking policies in place, despite a recent announcement by the state that California will end its indoor mask mandate on Feb. 15.

Long Beach currently has a mask mandate that affects all indoor "Mega Events" of more than 5,000 people and outdoor "Mega Events" of more than 10,000 people.

The city, which has its own health department, said that the decision was made due to high community transmission of COVID-19.

"In Long Beach, the daily case rate remains high at 105.5 per 100,000 and the positivity rate is 14.9%. The cumulative seven-day rate is 296 per 100,000. These indicators meet the CDC’s definition of "high transmission" - a cumulative seven-day rate of 100 or more cases per 100,000 residents or a positivity rate of 10% or higher. Currently,128 people are hospitalized with COVID-19 and the City continues to see deaths almost every day," the city posted on Facebook Wednesday.

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Long Beach officials laid out the criteria the city needs to meet in order to drop its current mask mandate. One of the following two criteria must be met before mask mandates in Long Beach relax:

The COVID-19 transmission must fall into the CDC’s moderate category – a seven-day cumulative rate of 10 to 50 cases per 100,000 and a positivity rate between 5% and 8% - for at least two weeks.
The vaccine for those 0-4 years old must be available for eight weeks.

Once one of those criteria are met, and if there are no emerging reports of significantly circulating new variants of concern that threaten vaccine effectiveness, the city of Long Beach will then be aligned with the state and fully vaccinated individuals will not be required to wear a facial covering indoors except in the following settings:

On public transit, including airplanes, ships, ferries, trains, buses, taxis and ride-shares) and in transportation hubs (examples: airports, bus terminals, marinas, train stations, seaports or other ports, or any other area that provides transportation)
Indoors in K-12 schools and childcare facilities
At emergency shelters and cooling and heating centers
In healthcare settings
At correctional facilities and detention centers
In homeless shelters
At long term care settings and adult and senior care facilities

Facial coverings will continue to be required for unvaccinated individuals in indoor public settings and businesses, including restaurants, retail establishments and family entertainment centers.

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