TUESDAY, June 29, 2021 (HealthDay News) — Regardless of their vaccination status, Los Angeles County residents should wear face masks in indoor public places due to the continuing spread of the Delta coronavirus variant across California, the county’s public health department said Monday.
The variant may be twice as transmissible as the original coronavirus. First identified in India, the Delta variant is now the third-most common in California — making up 14.5 percent of COVID-19 cases analyzed in June, up from 4.7 percent in May, the Los Angeles Times reported.
“While COVID-19 vaccine provides very effective protection, preventing hospitalizations and deaths against the Delta variant, the strain is proving to be more transmissible and is expected to become more prevalent,” L.A. County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said in a statement Monday. “Mask wearing remains an effective tool for reducing transmission, especially indoors where the virus may be easily spread through inhalation of aerosols emitted by an infected person.”
Of the 123 people in L.A. County confirmed to have been infected with the Delta variant thus far, 110 were unvaccinated and three were partially vaccinated, the Times reported. There were two hospitalizations among people in this group. Cases involving the variant have been found in 10 fully vaccinated individuals, none of whom ended up needing hospital care.
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