California is easing COVID-19 mask recommendations as conditions improve. Here's where

In a new sign of improving coronavirus conditions, California will ease its mask-wearing recommendations for the first time in seven months.

The state is largely rescinding its broad recommendation that everyone — regardless of vaccination status — mask up when in indoor public settings and businesses. That guidance had been in place since mid-February.

Instead, California will recommend universal mask wearing only when a county's COVID-19 community level — which indicates rates of new coronavirus-positive hospitalizations — is high.

Among the changes slated to take effect Friday is the end of state-ordered mandatory masking in jails and prisons, homeless shelters, and emergency and cooling centers located in counties with a low COVID-19 community level, as defined by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Placement in that category — which was home to 35 of California's 58 counties as of early this week — indicates the pandemic is not having a major impact on hospitals. The CDC updates its community level assessments weekly, sorting counties into low, medium or high.

Facilities can make their own decisions on mask use, but if an outbreak were to occur, masking would again be required by the state in settings like jails and prisons, shelters and cooling centers, even if the local COVID-19 community level is low, according to the state health order. A county's presence in the medium or high COVID-19 community level would result in a mask order in those settings.

In a statement Wednesday, the L.A. County Department of Public Health said it will align with the state and allow mask orders to end for jails, prisons, shelters and cooling centers starting Friday, unless a coronavirus outbreak is reported at a particular facility. L.A. County is in the low COVID-19 community level.

The county also will end its recommendation for universal masking in indoor public settings Friday, and instead say doing so will be a matter of personal preference.

Previously the county public health department said it would end its recommendation for universal masking once the region's coronavirus case rate fell below 100 weekly cases for every 100,000 residents. L.A. County was just above that mark by Wednesday afternoon and is on track to dip below it in the coming days.

Once that threshold is crossed, L.A. County plans to also end its health order requiring people to wear masks on public transit or in indoor transportation hubs, such as airports.

Masks will remain required in healthcare facilities and long-term and senior care settings under a state health order. The state is requiring that businesses and venues, including K-12 schools, "must allow any individual to wear a mask if they desire."

The changes will give "Californians the information they should consider when deciding when to wear a mask, including the rate of spread in the community and personal risk," Dr. Tomás Aragón, California's public health director and state health officer, said in a statement.