LOS ANGELES — Weekly coronavirus cases are showing early signs of flattening in Los Angeles County, but they remain at significantly elevated levels as a decision on whether to impose a new indoor mask mandate looms next week.
It’s too soon to say whether it’s a blip or the beginning of a sustained trend. Since cases began increasing in late March, there have been three times where they began to drop, only to be followed by steeper increases later, with transmission worsened by increasingly ultracontagious variants capable of reinfecting people within several weeks.
But the recent flattening in cases was something that L.A. County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer also noted publicly this week. Should a flattening in cases be followed by a steep decrease in the coming days — something that cannot be predicted with certainty — it is possible that Ferrer could postpone a universal mask mandate that was set to be enacted on Friday if conditions do not improve by then.
