California will impose a statewide mask mandate in all indoor public spaces as COVID-19 case rates soar, the state’s senior government health official said on Monday as precautions ramp up against the Omicron variant. The mandate, which will take effect on Wednesday and last a month, is one of several measures the most-populous U.S. state is taking to slow a wave of infections that is already straining hospitals in areas where vaccination rates are low. “We know people are tired, and hungry for normalcy,” state Health and Human Services Secretary Mark Ghaly said in a conference call with reporters. “Frankly I am, too.” The rate of COVID-19 infections in California has jumped 47% since Thanksgiving to more than 14 cases per 100,000 people, Ghaly said. The United States on Sunday reached 800,000 coronavirus-related deaths, a Reuters tally showed, as the nation braces for […]