Los Angeles Sheriff's Department won't enforce county mask mandate

The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department will not enforce a countywide face mask mandate imposed by the County Department of Public Health, the county sheriff said Friday. Instead, the agency will ask the community to voluntarily comply with the order, which requires both vaccinated and unvaccinated residents to wear face masks indoors.

California lifted statewide mask mandates for fully vaccinated residents on June 15 as the state began a tiered system of reopening, but on Thursday, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health announced an updated order, which will go into effect Saturday night, to address rapidly increasing community transmission rates for COVID-19 in the county.  Sheriff Alex Villanueva wrote in a statement, "Forcing the vaccinated and those who already contracted COVID-19 to wear face masks indoors is not backed by science and contradicts the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines."