All residents will need to wear masks, regardless of vaccination status.

Last night, Los Angeles County officials issued a Health Officer Order stating that as of 11:59 PM this Saturday, all residents will need to wear protective face masks in indoor public places once again. Exceptions to the rule will apply in manners identical to how they were determined prior to lockdown lift that occurred in June.

This new order comes as COVID-19 cases are on a rise in Los Angeles County, with over 1,500 new cases and 3 deaths reported in the last week. COVID-19-induced hospitalizations have also ticked up, with 452 Los Angeles County residents currently hospitalized versus the 406 hospitalized on Wednesday, 96 of whom have been placed in the ICU.

According to Los Angeles County Health Officer Dr. Muntu Davis 10,712,037 doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered as of the beginning of this week, with 5,067,109 Los Angeles County residents having reached full vaccination status. Dr. Davis said that rising cases, even small ones, should be a warning sign, and that “waiting to do something would be too late.”

Long Beach, which lies in the southern section of Los Angeles County and has its own health department, echoed the main health department’s concerns and signaled its intent to follow suit. “The City of Long Beach has seen a 288% increase in average daily cases over the past two weeks as well as a current case rate of 7.5 per 100,000 residents,” Long Beach City Health Officer Dr. Anissa Davis said in a statement. “Given these numbers, the City of Long Beach will align with L.A. County in requiring masking indoors regardless of vaccination status.”

Californian medical officials believe that this new spike in COVID-19 cases is being caused by the Delta variant, which has already become the dominant strain of the virus in the United States and continues to spread.