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LA County Keeps COVID Vaccination And Mask Requirement For Health Workers
A worker at a Honeywell International Inc. factory producing N95 masks May 5, 2020, in Phoenix, Arizona.
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Brendan Smialowski
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AFP via Getty Images
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Topline:
Los Angeles County will keep a COVID vaccine requirement and mask mandate in place for all health workers when they are around patients. The move is more restrictive than the state, which will roll back both rules April 3. Visitors and patients will no longer be required to wear a mask.
How long will the mask rule stick around? We’re not sure. Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said the vaccination (primary series plus one booster) and masking policy will be reassessed by September 2023, depending on federal health guidance. “People who are wearing masks don’t need to justify why they are wearing a mask. I think it’s really inappropriate [to ask],” Ferrer said.
Other rules will loosen: L.A. County Public Health aligned with the state’s five-day isolation and quarantine rules that start next week. Also workers in correctional, detention and adult day care facilities will no longer be required to be vaccinated against COVID starting April 3.
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Keeping an eye on outbreaks: Public Health will continue to require schools, work sites and health care facilities to report COVID case clusters or outbreaks.
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