With COVID surging, Los Angeles may soon require masks

By CHRISTOPHER WEBER and CARLA K. JOHNSON
Associated Press

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The nation’s most populous county is facing a return to a broad indoor mask mandate as new omicron variants are again driving hospital admissions and deaths higher. Health officials say Los Angeles County, home to 10 million residents, could reinstate the mandate on July 29. In recent weeks, states and cities began to rethink their responses to COVID-19. And the White House is stepping up efforts to alert the public. Some experts say the warnings are too little, too late. The highly transmissible variants have shown a remarkable ability to get around the protection offered by vaccination.