Indoor masking is mandatory for all Angelenos as of Saturday, July 17, as the novel coronavirus continues to spread throughout Southern California. The return of the mask mandate came amid a more than 500 percent increase in the rate of spread of the virus since the state “reopened” on June 15 and masks and social distancing regulations were lifted. In early June, Los Angeles County was averaging about 250 new cases of the disease per day; this week, the LA County Department of Public Health issued a warning that the daily case average could reach 2,000. This was thought to be due to reopening as well as the prevalence of the Delta variance, a newer and more highly transmissible version of the coronavirus that emerged in late 2019.
More Malibuites tested positive for the virus this week than in any week since early March 2021. An additional 14 residents were confirmed to have contracted the coronavirus in the week from July 13-19. (Our COVID-19 chart shows an uptick in cases in late May, but that was due to a reporting backlog from LA County.) In total, 480 Malibuites have been known to have contracted the virus, with eight local deaths attributed to the disease.
Another 42 Malibu residents were vaccinated in the past week, bringing the total population with at least one shot up to 6,552. Malibu continues to lag behind comparable cities in its vaccination rate, with only about 59.5 percent of residents ages 16 and up vaccinated, compared to 69.9 percent countywide.
A small percentage of those testing positive for the virus each day in Los Angeles County have been vaccinated, but almost no vaccinated people have been hospitalized or killed by COVID-19. Vaccines continue to be offered free of charge countywide.