On Wednesday, the Public Health of Los Angeles County confirmed 102 additional deaths and 3,348 new cases of COVID-19 in the County. This brought the total number of deaths in LA County due to COVID-19 to 30,081.

Hospitalizations have been under 2,500 for seven consecutive days; therefore, Public Health issued a modified LA County Health Officer Order on Wednesday recommending to no longer require masking at outdoor mega events and outdoor spaces at K-12 schools and childcare centers. This was done due to the declining COVID hospital admissions. The week ending Feb. 13 saw a 26% decline in County hospital admissions.

“While masking will no longer be required at outdoor mega events or in outdoor spaces at childcare facilities and K-12 schools, the masking requirement at indoor establishments will continue until LA County has seven consecutive days at or below moderate transmission of 10 to 49.99 new cases per 100,000 persons in the past seven days,” according to Public Health.

“While entering post-surge is welcoming news, we are all aware that post-surge does not mean the pandemic is over, or that transmission is low, or that there will not be additional unpredictable waves of surges in the future that will require integrated public health measures. Post-surge acknowledges the consistent and welcomed declines from the surge peak and realigns our current public health response to meet current mitigation needs. We anticipate that with continued steep declines in case numbers indicating much lower transmission we will be able to safely lift indoor mask mandates in mid-March. Please continue to take sensible precautions that reduce exposures so that we don’t lose ground,” said Dr. Barbara Ferrer, director of Public Health.

The state and county regulations continue to require masking at K-12 schools, childcare facilities, youth settings, healthcare settings, correctional facilities, homeless and emergency shelters and cooling centers. The state will proved an update assessment on Feb. 28 on appropriate safety considerations for schools.

Due to federal regulations masking is still required for those riding public transit and in transportation hubs.