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Los Angeles County reportedly ‘weeks away’ from ending indoor mask mandate
By MADISON HIRNEISEN
THE CENTER SQUARE STAFF REPORTER
(The Center Square) — Though California’s universal indoor masking mandate is set to expire for fully vaccinated individuals on Tuesday, some local jurisdictions across the state have announced that they plan to keep an indoor masking requirement in effect until COVID-19 case rates improve.
Dr. Barbara Ferrer, the Los Angeles County Public Health Director told the Board of Supervisors Tuesday that the county likely remains a few weeks away from lifting its indoor masking mandate.
The public health director said masking requirements could change when the county reaches a “moderate level” of community transmission for two consecutive weeks — defined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as less than 50 new cases per 100,000 people for seven days.
The county could also move to eliminate indoor masking requirements once the COVID-19 vaccine is available for children under age 5 for eight weeks, Dr. Ferrer said Tuesday, noting that officials are expecting emergency approval of the Pfizer vaccine for kids under 5 by the end of the month.
“We share in the desire to take masks off, the issue is one of timing,” Dr. Ferrer told the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday.
“We anticipate being able to get to moderate transmission if we can continue to drive down the rates as we are right now on our cases within a few weeks, but we’re not there yet,” she later added.
In the Bay Area, Santa Clara County announced Wednesday that it would keep its indoor mask mandate in place next week. The local public health department said Wednesday that it would consider lifting the mandate when the county reaches a seven-day average of 550 or fewer cases for at least a week.
“We must continue to base our decisions on the risks COVID-19 presents to our community, and we look forward to lifting the indoor mask requirement as soon as we can do so without putting vulnerable people at undue risk,” Dr. Sara Cody, Santa Clara County health officer and director of public health, said in a statement Wednesday.
Other regions of the state, however, have decided to allow indoor mask mandates to expire next week, permitting fully vaccinated individuals to take off their masks in most indoor settings.
Eleven Bay Area health officers announced Wednesday that they would relax many indoor mask requirements next week, allowing fully vaccinated patrons to take off their masks in most public indoor settings. The health officers represented the counties of Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Monterey, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Cruz, Solano, Sonoma and the city of Berkeley.
“We are able to take this next major step of removing the universal indoor mask requirement because we have laid a strong foundation in good public health protections — especially vaccines and boosters — and know we can reduce severe illness, hospitalizations and deaths,” Dr. Ori Tzvieli, health officer for Contra Costa County, said in a statement Wednesday.
San Francisco Mayor London Breed also announced Wednesday that fully vaccinated patrons would no longer be required to mask up to enter several indoor establishments across the city.
“Starting February 16 in San Francisco, vaccinated people will no longer be required to wear masks in most indoor settings, including restaurants, bars, gyms, grocery stores, offices, museums and other locations,” Mayor Breed tweeted. “The unvaccinated will still be required to wear masks indoors.”
Ms. Breed noted that several state indoor masking orders in settings like hospitals, homeless shelters and schools will still be required, and federal law still requires masking on public transit.
The state initially instated the universal indoor masking requirement on Dec. 15 amid rising cases of COVID-19. The requirement was initially set to last through Jan. 15 but was extended last month as the omicron variant continued to circulate statewide.
Since cases peaked in January, the state has seen a 65% drop in case rates statewide, Gov. Gavin Newsom said earlier this week.
Madison Hirneisen covers California for The Center Square.
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