People Who Wear Masks 56-83% Less Likely To Contract COVID: Study

LOS ANGELES, CA — Los Angeles County reported another 82 COVID deaths Friday as health officials urged caution going into a week of Super Bowl festivities around Los Angeles.

County Health officials this week pushed back against calls to end mask mandates, noting certain conditions reflecting lower transmission rates need to be met before Angelenos can ditch their masks at large outdoor events and at indoor public venues. Bolstering their case on Friday, the California Department of Public Health released a largescale study that found that people who self-reported consistently wearing face masks or respirators in public indoor places are much less likely to test positive for COVID-19 than people who admitted that they skip the masks.

The study looked at 3,000 people who took P.C.R. tests last year, half of whom tested positive for COVID-19. The people who told interviewers they always wore a mask in public were 56 percent less likely to have tested positive and 83 percent less likely if they reported wearing N95 or KN95 masks.

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In a statement, Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said if the county wants to end the winter surge of COVID infections, "we'll need to continue the common-sense protective measures that we know can slow COVID-19 transmission."

"These include wearing a mask when around others until transmission is lower; testing, if possible, before gathering with others, especially if you're gathering with people at high risk, including unvaccinated, or indoors or in a crowded outdoor place where masks are not always worn, and after being exposed to a positive case; staying home and away from others if you are sick or test positive; and getting vaccinated and boosted if you're not already up to date," she said.

County Supervisor Kathryn Barger, on the other hand, said the lax adherence to the mandate should lead to a reevaluation of whether it should remain in effect. But Board of Supervisors Chair Holly Mitchell said the rule will stay in place until transmission rates fall to a safer level.

At the same time, a petition to rescind LA's proof of vaccination requirement has been approved for circulation. The county's health officials are confronting widespread pandemic fatigue at a critical time when Super Bowl gatherings could setback gains in containing the Omicron surge.

LA's been here before when Lakers and Dodgers championship celebrations were followed by surging COVID-19 cases.

Ferrer on Thursday unveiled metrics for a possible relaxing of masking orders, saying the mandate will be dropped at outdoor "mega-events" and outdoors at schools and child-care centers if COVID-positive hospitalizations in the county fall below 2,500 for seven consecutive days.

According to state figures, there were 3,233 COVID-positive patients in county hospitals as of Friday, with 652 of them being treated in intensive care. Those numbers are down from 3,398 patients and 670 in ICU on Thursday.

The county reported another 85 COVID-related deaths on Friday, bringing the overall death toll to 29,280. Another 15,427 new infections were also confirmed, although about 6,800 of them were attributed to a backlog in testing results from a single lab. The new cases gave the county a pandemic total of 2,710,362.

The rolling average daily rate of people testing positive for the virus continued to fall, reaching 6.9% as of Friday, down from 7.9% on Thursday.

As of Thursday, Ferrer said 82% of eligible county residents aged 5 and older have received at least one dose of vaccine, while 73% are fully vaccinated and 34% are vaccinated and boosted. Among all 10.3 million residents, 77% have at least one dose, 69% are fully vaccinated and 32% are vaccinated with a booster shot.

Figures showed that children between 5 and 11 still have the lowest vaccine rates, with just 32% having received one dose and 23% fully vaccinated.

Ferrer noted that during the month of January, children aged 5 to 11 represented 15% of all COVID cases in the county, despite making up just 9% of the population. Teens aged 12 to 17 accounted for 13% of all cases, while representing just 7% of the population.

"Children do get infected with COVID-19," she said.

City News Service contributed to this report.