The Latest Breaking News from Barbara Ferrer

LOS ANGELES — With many Los Angeles County students returning to school this week and thousands of young people headed back to California universities this month and next, there's a rising concern about the potential for monkeypox outbreaks in academic and social environments.

LOS ANGELES — Delays in getting children vaccinated during the COVID-19 pandemic and antivaccination sentiment in general may be fueling the most serious threat of polio in the U.S. in years, raising alarms from New York to California.

Health officials say that virus levels in region continue to drop

LOS ANGELES — As successive waves of COVID-19 have swept across the Southland, Michael Matteo Rossi, a 35 year-old filmmaker who lives in Los Feliz, has gamely masked up whenever he shopped, ate out or visited with his parents, who are in their 70s.

LOS ANGELES — Will Los Angeles County impose a new mask mandate this week in response to a summer coronavirus surge fueled by ultra-contagious omicron subvariants?

As Los Angeles hurtles toward a possible return of a countywide indoor mask mandate, restaurateurs and bar owners are bracing for a new wave of backlash and enforcement difficulties — reminiscent of many of their industry's hardships during the pandemic-spurred pivots and rapidly evolving dining regulations of 2020 and 2021.

LOS ANGELES — With Los Angeles County set to decide in the coming days whether to impose a new mask mandate, one factor of note is a rise in coronavirus deaths.

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.

Indoor masking in public settings could return to Los Angeles County in a week as circulation of the hyper-infectious BA.5 omicron subvariant continues to push coronavirus case counts higher and sends increasing numbers of people to the hospital.