LA County is planning to instate an indoor masking mandate on July 29. It would apply to all public indoor spaces: Covid case numbers look artificially low because of how many people are taking at-home tests. But Covid ER visits are up, and so are outbreaks at nursing homes, and so are deaths.

I'm totally stunned that LA might move into the yellow tier next week. LOS ANGELES. WHERE EVERYTHING WAS V TERRIBLE LIKE THREE MONTHS AGO. WILL BE ALMOST FULLY OPEN. CA counties have to meet certain criteria to move into less restrictive reopening tiers, which allow for more things to be open. LA's numbers have dropped so steeply that we're poised to enter the least restrictive tier as early as next week

So about the J&J vaccine. I've heard from people who don't want it because they're worried its less effective than the other two vaccines.

LA County officials just addressed this: LA County chief science officer Dr. Paul Simon said that comparisons of vaccines across clinical trials aren't accurate, since each trial was designed differently and efficacy was measured differently.

The vaccine rollout is a mess. Across 50 states, there are 48 different ways that the vaccine is being distributed.

“It’s a little bit like designating one part of the swimming pool for urination and hoping for the best.”

latest from me and @CShalby latimes.com/california/sto… Almost every state has made up its own list of who should get early access to the vaccine: police officers, teachers, incarcerated people, psychiatric patients, pregnant woman. There are CDC guidelines, but only three states are still following them. latimes.com/california/sto…

Thought I'd collect and share some differing perspectives about the California variant and acknowledge that there's a lot of debate about it! So the UCSF researchers found some stuff that seemed alarming...

https://twitter.com/skarlamangla/status/1364243151293046791

Yet the California variant is already dominant here, yet things aren't getting worse -- far from it

https://twitter.com/EricTopol/status/1364215377304055811?s=20

California is vaccinating around 200,000 people a day, according to Gov. Newsom. Since the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines each require two doses, it would take 13 months to vaccinate everyone in the state at this pace. Newsom says that the vaccine supply the state is receiving is low and "simply not what we’re capable of administering, meaning we could do exponentially more."

In LA, we’re vaccinating neighborhoods hardest-hit by COVID at the lowest rates — the opposite of how you’d distribute a vaccine if you wanted to prevent the most transmission and deaths. latimes.com/projects/la-co… These trends also means that we won’t be able to get the pandemic control, because we won’t prevent outbreaks in the neighborhoods most likely to have them. And then they’ll spread to elsewhere.

So the CDC changed its masking guidance yesterday to recommend tighter-fitting masks as well as double masks. But they specifically warned against layering KN95s, which surprised me given how common that combo has become

This is how they explained it when I followed-up: KN95s and N95s work very well on their own and adding masks on top or underneath could "affect how well they fit the face and decrease their effectiveness" and also make them hard to breathe through and uncomfortable, officials say.

The status of COVID variants in California:

-159 cases of the B117 UK variant
-1,203 cases of West Coast variant
-no cases of P1 variant, believed to have emerged in Brazil
-two cases of the South African B1351 variant -- one in Alameda and one in Santa Clara County What we know about these variants:

-the B117 variant is believed to be about 50% more infectious. it's prevalence in the US is doubling every week
-research on the B1351 variant suggests it may make some vaccines less effective. it's an issue to keep an eye on

LA County officials say that food and agriculture workers will become eligible for vaccination here in the next two to three weeks. That sectors breaks down like this. About half a million people in this category in LA County.

How many people are wearing cloth masks on top of KN95s?

The CDC's new masking guidance recommends wearing a cloth mask over a disposable mask, but it asks that people NOT layer KN95s. KN95s are meant to be worn on their own, it says.

https://twitter.com/skarlamangla/status/1359544379262738432

I'm trying to find out more soon on why they're recommending this, but I'm wondering if it's because KN95s have a structure to them and if you put something on top it might flatten the mask, and reduce the tightness of the seal? Hopefully will know more soon.

The CDC is updating its mask guidance today to recommend new ways to make masks fit more tightly, including double-masking, knotting the ear loops or using a moldable nose wire. This is based on new science released today. CDC researchers conducted an experiment in which they simulated aerosolized COVID-19 transmission between two people, and found that exposure was reduced by more than 95% when both people were wearing a cloth mask over a medical procedure mask.

Officials say that there are now five confirmed cases of the B117 coronavirus variant -- often called the UK strain -- in LA County. LA County public health director Barbar Ferrer: "I would just note: there's no way that we don't have a fair amount of variant circulating, a fair amount of mutated virus circulating. It's just a question of how much and does it become dominant."

LA County is reporting 93 new deaths from COVID and 2,741 new cases today. A huge drop in coronavirus cases in LA County

I just heard someone say that North Dakota and Arizona have way lower death rates from COVID than California, and that they've managed it without all our rules.

That's just not true! Everyone loves to bash California, but our death rate from COVID ranks 33 out of 50 states 🙃 Nearly 41,000 Californians have died from COVID -- about 1 of every 1,000 residents

If we had the same death rate as Arizona or North Dakota, we'd have around 75,000 dead. Even the rate of Florida, which everyone love to compare us to, would bring our toll to 50,000

LA County has confirmed its second case of the B117 variant, the one that is widespread in the UK and is believed to be more contagious. The specimen, which came from a clinical facility, was sequenced as part of routine surveillance by the health department. Officials say they believe the variant is already spreading in the county and continue to test samples.

outdoor dining reopening in LA today. this is what health officials have to say about it: employees must wear face masks AND shields. tables must be eight feet apart. TVs must remain off. people eating a restaurant can't be in groups larger than six and must all be from the same household.

So Gov. Newsom announced that the stay-at-home orders are being lifted. I talked to a bunch of epidemiologists to see what they were thinking about the news. Just like the public, their reactions varied widely Some experts thought it was too soon. California has just started to turn around its numbers and it doesn't make sense to reopen things before they get lower, they said, because if there's another surge it will build upon this one that isn't over yet

A happy San Francisco Mayor London Breed says that Gov. Newsom's lifting of the stay-at-home order is good news. The city's COVID numbers are all trending downwards and outdoor dining can resume. "It's good news." "You can get your hair done, you can get your nails done," starting on Thursday, Breed says. Outdoor museums, zoos, outdoor entertainment like skateparks and indoor funerals for up to 12 people were all banned but now will reopen on Thursday.

Gov. Newsom just started his press conference. It's gonna be a doozy! Newsom says that ICU capacity will be above 15% across the state by Feb. 21st

after California instated stay-at-home orders for most of the state in early December, our mobility -- a measure of how much everyone is moving around -- dropped to the lowest level since May. that undoubtedly helped turn around our terrible surge maybe the rules can be loosened as things are improving, but they're barely improving! there are still way too many people in the hospital and health care workers are still stretched so thin ... like, look at this graph