Mayor Garcetti says he holds his breath when taking photos maskless at Rams NFC Championship game

Mayor Garcetti responds to maskless photos during Rams' NFC championship game

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti responded to criticism of photos of him maskless at SoFi during the Rams' NFC Championship game Sunday. Garcetti said he holds his breath when taking his mask off to take photos.

LOS ANGELES - Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti responded to critics after photos posted online showed him maskless during the Los Angeles Rams game Sunday at SoFi Stadium.

LA Lakers legend Magic Johnson posted pictures on social media, in a suite with California Gov. Gavin Newsom, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti and San Francisco Mayor London Breed, all posing for photos without anyone wearing a mask.

The photos were criticized by many online. But Garcetti and Newsom responded to critics by saying they only removed their masks to take a photo.

"I wore my mask the entire game and when people ask for a photograph I hold my breath and put it [mask] here and people can see it. There’s a 0% chance of infection from that," Garcetti said during a press conference at SoFi Stadium Wednesday.

"It’s funny, on the way out, I had friends who said ‘you seem like the only guy wearing the mask the entire game’ and I woke up the next morning to that shock," he added.

The mayor then said his focus is to get as many people vaccinated as possible.

Newsom addressed the criticism during a press conference Monday, saying that he only removed the mask for the photograph.

"The rest of the time I wore it, as we all should," Newsom said regarding the mask.

Los Angeles County is still under a mask mandate that affects all indoor public settings and outdoor ‘Mega Events’ of more than 5,000 people, and SoFi Stadium additionally has a mask policy. Specifically for the NFC game, the stadium handed out KN-95 masks.

Following Sunday's game, Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger called for a reevaluation of the COVID-19 mask mandate. She sent a letter to LA County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer asking to end the outdoor mask mandate, have the county align with state rules and end mandatory masking in schools.

Maskless Garcetti, Newsom pics bring LA County mask mandate into question

After pictures of maskless celebrities and government officials at SoFi Stadium went viral this week, there are growing questions about the need for masking outdoors, even at big events.

"What I saw at the last game was well over 70% of people were not adhering to the mask mandate and it wasn’t being enforced," Barger stated.

Ferrer responded on Wednesday that the department would reevaluate when COVID-19 transmission in the county goes below the "substantial" or "high" classification.

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