County Orders Employers to Provide Workers, Volunteers With Surgical Masks or Higher-Level Respirators

As new COVID-19 cases mount by hundreds daily, Pasadena employers could soon be required to provide upgraded masks to their on-site employees, contracted workers and volunteers to wear while indoors at work.

Los Angeles County on Wednesday issued such an order, telling employers it must be implemented by Friday. Pasadena’s Health Dept. has not yet issued a similar order.

The County’s order requires all employers and businesses to provide and require on-site employees, assigned or contracted workers or volunteers to wear a surgical mask or higher-level respirator approved by the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), such as an N95 filtering facepiece respirator, at all times while indoors at the worksite or facility.

The upgraded mask requirement mirrors an order released late last week by the county for K-12 schools, requiring teachers and staff to wear higher-grade face coverings.

The changes come amid a surge in COVID-19 infections driven by the highly transmissible Omicron variant of the virus.

The Pasadena Public Health Department —still one day behind in reporting presumably because of the significant increase in workload caused by the latest surge — said it is reporting 222 incident confirmed cases and 8 probable cases for Tuesday.

The 7-day average of 317.1 cases per day, up from a 7-day average just above 20 cases two weeks ago.

Huntington Hospital reported Wednesday another increase in COVID-19-positive patients to a total of 79, with 8 in the ICU. 100% of the patients in the ICU were unvaccinated.

California Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly said Wednesday the state is working with hospitals to get a better understanding of how many COVID-positive patients were admitted to hospitals because they were sick from the virus, and how many were only diagnosed after being admitted for other reasons.

Dr. Christina Ghaly, Los Angeles County’s health services director and the wife of Mark Ghaly, told the Los Angeles Times this week that about two- thirds of the COVID-positive patients at the four county-operated hospitals were admitted for something other than COVID.

Mark Ghaly said regardless of the way in which COVID patients were detected, the overall hospitalization numbers in the state remain concerning. The total number of patients in the state — both COVID and non-COVID — was about 51,000 as of Wednesday morning, rivaling the 53,000 peak seen during last winter’s surge.

In Los Angeles County, COVID hospitalization numbers peaked at about 8,000 during last winter’s surge. Experts have suggested that while the Omicron variant is more infectious, it may lead to less severe illness, at least among people who have been fully vaccinated and received a booster shot.

With less severe illness and the benefit of vaccines, hospital officials have maintained hope that the current surge of cases will not lead to the same pressure on medical centers as last winter.

According to county figures released last week, of the more than 6.3 million fully vaccinated people in the county, 127,172 have tested positive for the virus, for a rate of 2%, while 3,094 have been hospitalized, for a rate of 0.05%. A total of 602 fully vaccinated people have died, for a rate of 0.01%.

Overall, 79% of eligible county residents aged 5 and older have received at least one dose of vaccine, while 71% are fully vaccinated. Of the county’s overall population of 10.3 million people, 75% have received at least one dose, and 67% are fully vaccinated.

The lowest vaccination rate is among children aged 5-11 — the most recent age group to become eligible for the shots.