Los Angeles County avoids new mask rule as COVID stabilizes

By CHRISTOPHER WEBER
Associated Press

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Los Angeles County has dropped a plan to impose a universal indoor mask mandate this week as COVID-19 infections and rates of hospitalizations have stabilized. Health director Barbara Ferrer announced two weeks ago that the nation’s most populous county could again require face coverings if trends in hospital admissions continued under criteria set by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.  But Thursday she said the county managed to dodge imposition of the broad mask rule. Ferrer said the county has experienced a “fairly steady decline in cases since July 23, potentially signaling the beginning of a downward trend in cases.”