The Los Angeles County Department of Pubic Health reports that the community transmission of COVID-19 has rapidly increased from Moderate to Substantial, based on the trend in daily new cases of COVID-19.

On June 15, the day of the full reopening, the County saw 210 new cases and today the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health (Public Health) confirms the highest number of new COVID-19 cases since mid-March with 1,537 new cases. Today’s test positivity rate is 3.7%; on June 15, the test positivity rate was around 0.5%.

As a result, the Los Angeles County Health Officer Order will be modified to require masking for everyone while indoors, regardless of vaccination status, as Los Angeles County sees more than a seven-times increase in new cases since the June 15 reopening. Wearing a mask when indoors reduces the risk of both getting and transmitting the virus. This additional layer of protection can help to slow the spread and does not limit business occupancy and operations.

The L.A. County indoor masking requirements for everyone will be effective Saturday, July 17 at 11:59 p.m. Some exceptions will apply, similar to masking requirements that were in place prior to the June 15 reopening.

Tracking the proliferation of the Delta variant is a priority because the Delta variant is more easily spread between people – more than other variants of concern. And while emerging data affirms that fully vaccinated people are well protected from severe infections with Delta variants, people with only one vaccine are not as well-protected, and there is evidence that a very small number of fully vaccinated individuals can become infected and may be able to infect others.

From June 27 to July 3, the number of sequenced Delta variants was 124, 71% of all sequences collected that week. Given that slightly under 4 million residents in L.A. County are not yet vaccinated, the risk of increased spread of this variant within the County remains high.

To date, Public Health identified 1,262,578 positive cases of COVID-19 across all areas of L.A. County and a total of 24,566 deaths. Of the three new deaths reported today, one person that passed away was over the age of 80, and two people who passed were between the ages of 50 and 64. Testing results are available for more than 7,142,000 individuals with 16% of people testing positive. There are 406 people with COVID-19 currently hospitalized and 22% of these people are in the ICU.

As of July 11, more than 10,712,037 doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered to people across Los Angeles County. Of these, 5,946,447 were first doses and 4,763,590 were second doses. Among L.A. County residents 16 and over, 69% have received one dose of vaccine and 61% have been fully vaccinated. Among L.A. County seniors 65 and over, 88% have received one dose of vaccine and 78% have been fully vaccinated.