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Starting Wednesday, Californians will once again be required to wear masks indoors in public places regardless of vaccination status, state health officials announced Monday.
The renewed masking requirement follows a 47% increase in COVID-19 case rates since the Thanksgiving holiday and the arrival of new variant, said Dr. Mark Ghaly, the state’s health secretary.
The mask mandate will run through Jan. 15 and is specific to public settings, not private gatherings. Nevertheless, health officials recommend people get tested ahead of holiday gatherings and consider better ventilation by opening windows or convening outdoors when possible.
The mandate will mainly affect about 50% of the state population that lives in counties that currently don’t have their own mask mandate, Ghaly said. Los Angeles and several Bay Area counties already have mask mandates for public settings in place.
Along with renewed mask rules, the state will also require that attendees at mega events — those of 1,000 people or more — who are unvaccinated show proof of a negative COVID-19 test taken within one day, if an antigen test, or two days for PCR tests. The state is also recommending that travelers get tested before and after trips.
The first statewide mandate was imposed in 2020 and lifted last June.
After the state’s June 15 reopening, vaccinated people were allowed to return to grocery stores, retail and other public settings without a mask — at least under state rules. People who were not vaccinated still had to adhere to indoor masking. Telling the difference, however, was tricky: Ghaly acknowledged Monday that throughout the pandemic enforcement of these rules has been a challenge.
Ghaly said state officials are not considering any further restrictions or capacity limits on businesses at this time. “Is this the first step along the course we’re familiar with…including closures? Absolutely not.”
That’s because, he said, despite concerns of the new omicron variant and rising case rates, the state has effective tools at hand: vaccines and masks.
The type of mask makes a difference, Shafir said. With an improving supply chain, people should opt for surgical and N95 masks and ensure they fit well over the nose and under the chin.
She described California’s current situation as a tale of two states: On one hand, some counties have relaxed masking and low vaccine uptake, and on the other, there are counties with stronger vaccination rates where people have been masking continuously indoors, even after the state lifted its own requirements. In those counties “you have a slower increase of new cases. Not none, but there is less,” Shafir said.
The state’s seven-day average case rate as of Monday stood at 14.1 new cases per 100,000 people. On the high end, Riverside and San Diego counties reported rates of 19.8, San Bernardino County is at 22.7, Inyo County 29.4 and Mono County 50.1, according to state data.
On the lower end, Los Angeles reported 13.3 new cases per 100,000 and San Francisco and Alameda counties reported rates of 8.5 and 7.6, respectively.
To date, 74,685 Californians have died from COVID-19.
I guess we are very lucky here in Pleasanton, looking at your second to the last paragraph, showing low numbers of new cases for Alameda county,,,,,which includes Oakland …let me repeat: Oakland, …with it large population, and with its large number of comorbidities among that population. Also, Hayward. Castro Valley, Fremont, Dublin, etc. PLEASE, Look at the data for our Alameda County on this gov site,:
https://covid19.ca.gov/state-dashboard/
Scroll down to “Today’s update” and the page that opens, enter Alameda in the county box and see we have incredibly low infection, hospitalization, and death rates. And we have a very high vaccination rate. Look at the steep downward slope of the graphs and , hmmm,??? why the anxiety here in Alameda county and the renewed mask mandates??? If someone wants to wear a mask for whatever reason, that is their right. With this new variant, Omicron, which according to just about every doctor, has a MILDER pathology, maybe we, unlike other areas of CA and the US, could look at the risk vs benefit of returning to normal, or somewhat normal, life???
A jab so good you still need to mask up after being injected with 2-3 doses LOL
Then again, for the first time in human history the ineffectiveness of a medical vaccine is being blamed on those that didn’t take it.
The following 3 books will help you understand what is going on in this country. Fear is a strong motivated to control people who haven’t a clue to the data and facts.
(Robert F. Kennedy Jr.) The Real Anthony Fauci
Bill Gates, Big Pharma, and the Global War on Democracy and Public Health;
(Alex Berenson) Pandemia: How Coronavirus Hysteria Took Over Our Government, Rights, and Lives;
(Dr. Scott Atlas) A Plague Upon Our House: My Fight at the Trump White House to Stop COVID from Destroying America.
Yay government mandates for the people. If it doesn’t work it must be because you’re not wearing a mask……are we really going to fall for this slight of hand?
Why does “listen to science “ ignore data?
Why are people allowed to enter grocery stores where it is plainly posted, as well as a mandate by the State to be masked indoors, NOT wearing masks like this guy who works at Safeway but shopped in my store Raley’s. I asked him why and you can guess what he said. He said Masks don’t help, (which they clearly do. Yes it’s not 100% but it is helpful) and that Covid doesn’t hurt anyone… what?? Today there were 4 white males 35-60 years of age all not wearing masks. Two of the 4 put on their masks when I asked while the other two did not. I thanked those that did. I just don’t understand the logic behind behaving badly by Not Masking when required to do so and spreading illness un-necessarily that can cause great complications to someone else, ruin their health and even death. Please simply follow the rules, like you tell your children and there will be a safer community.
Bay Area counties already had indoor mask mandates which, along with high vaccination rates, explain why our numbers are low. Lower our defense and we will get punched in the face like other states and areas of the country. Delta started in India and Omicron started in South Africa. Unfortunately Covid will be with us until rich countries like the US help poor countries with vaccination. Here is a funny analogy for those who are still skeptics:
Reasons why I refuse to put winter tires on my car:
•It’s my car, my choice, my freedom
•The effectiveness of winter tires is not proven, except by studies carried out by the biased manufacturers
•My facebook friend said he had an accident after putting on his winter tires
•Some are already on their 3rd set of tires, which proves their ineffectiveness
•We don’t know what they’re made of
•The tire giants scare us with winter just to enrich themselves
• The tire giants also invented snow and spread it at night when you sleep
•If I have tires, the government can track me in the snow
•Educate yourself, open your eyes, stop being sheep!
SAY NO to WINTER TIRES!
Bald snow tires, no good. New snow tires, good. Cloth masks, no good. N95 masks, good.
Why put winter tires on your car when all terrains are perfectly suitable? Sure, winter tires are excellent in snow. But when 90% of the driving in ca is on hwys and 10% in snowy conditions winter tires year round seem silly. Especially if you’ve trained yourself on how to react to driving in inclement weather. So while you’re technically safer – do we really need winter tires ?
So can we please stop with the stupid anecdotes along with the fake masking. Again, indoor restaurants sitting with no mask is safe but standing in said restaurant without one is a terrorist assault? Get out of here.
Stop the stupidity. Get vaccinated, move on.
Hey PP, I can see your point that if you are vaccinated (all terrain tires), why wear a mask (put snow tires on)? I am an engineer and deal with FMEA a lot – failure mode effect analysis. What are the scenarios that failure can happen, what is the effect and what to do to mitigate. In my world, you design with least amount of failures and most mitigation. Wearing a mask in a restaurant when you are standing up to go to the bathroom may seem stupid but it reduces the risk of failure – getting Covid from a sick loud-mouth who is spreading the virus around his/her table.
It is about reducing the risk. Yes, it sucks, I hate it too, especially showing my ID and vaccine card. But, I’d rather do that than feel terrible about giving Covid to my immune-suppressed Dad the next I and his grand kids visit him. Was it because I went to a place without mask that did not care about the rules and allowed unvaccinated people in without wearing masks??
If something can go wrong it will!
An engineer should understand the complete uselessness of cloth masks. N95 or nothing.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Alex Berenson are ignorant anti-vaxxer hacks. They were both kicked off social media for good reasons. We would do well to ignore them.
Robert D,
If you’re that concerned, if the ultimate price is your fathers life , by all means wear a mask. I won’t judge you.
But maybe you should be asking yourself why you’re going out to a restaurant, in public, potentially exposing yourself and by extension your father, if you’re that concerned about the risk?
As an engineer you should appreciate design controls are greater than engineering controls which are greater than administrative controls in terms of effectiveness.
So if you’re that concerned, why even create the opportunity in your world? Stay home, eat in, door dash in.
Time to move on.
Florida has no mask/vax mandates and the lowest case rate. Meanwhile heavily mandated northeast is SURGING in covid.
The results don’t line up with the narratives and “2 weeks to slow the spread” is becoming less and less about objective scientific results.
BobB, Getting banned from twitter is no indication of anything. Fauci is a tool of the drug company and loves his time in the limelight. He is simply a mouthpiece with no real world experience. Remember, wash your hands, wear a mask and socially distance. Only for two weeks, not.
BobB- you definitely are a salesman or lobbyist for the pharmaceutical company. You fear facts, data, and truth. You fear debate, discussion, alternative views by doctors in the field. We are here because of people like you. Secondly, Mr. Engineer, you couldn’t have used a more ridiculous analogy. Stick with engineering or what ever it is you do.
The vaccines are failing and so are the boosters. Israel is heading toward their fourth. These experimental drugs were poorly tested and at present are STILL not FDA approved- they fall under the EUA. At this point, the FDA approved level doesn’t mean much anymore. You will not vax or booster your way out of this.
Because we still have a great number of fearful weak people in this state, I am confident we will behave as Australia and Austria.
Ok, I tried. There will always be a minority of people who don’t get it. I agree – it is time to move on from you 3-4 hostile characters in PW. Not worth a minute of my precious time. I will talk to super majority who are open-minded and polite.
Jake waters,
You are a known anti-vaxxer and you are here promoting that anti-vaxx rubbish from those people who are known to push many falsehoods.
I’ll ask again. What are you trying to do here? Are you honestly trying to dissuade people from taking a vaccine that could save their lives or keep them from getting hospitalized? Seriously is that what you’re doing?
Robert D,
Sorry to see you go. Speaking as a fellow engineer, you’re analogy made good sense. There is a sad willful ignorance among some people who mistrust all institutions.
RobertDs analogy made no sense what soever. I am not surprised that BobB agreed with it. I hope their engineering is better than their analogies. I do not distrust all institutions, but I certainly do not trust the government due to their incompetance. Faucis solution to everything is get another shot and wear a mask. Cloth masks are worthless. You engineers if anybody should understand that. Good day and goodby.
BobB, quit calling names you ProVaxxer at any cost.