LA County sheriff says reinstated mask mandate 'not backed by science' | TheHill - The Hill

Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva said on Friday that his department would not expend the resources to enforce an indoor mask mandate in the county, adding that the measure was “not backed by science.”.

He said that while the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health (DPH) had authority to enforce their mandate, “the underfunded/defunded Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department will not expend our limited resources and instead ask for voluntary compliance.”.

The department said that the indoor mask mandate was warranted because the county saw a seven-fold increase in the number of COVID-19 cases between when the county reopened on June 15 and on Thursday.

The Hill has reached out to the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health for comment