California is masking up again in order to avoid closing its doors. With a 47% uptick in Covid cases since Thanksgiving, a new indoor mask mandate, regardless of vaccine status, is going into place effective today through January 15th. Public places affected will be retail stores, theaters, government buildings, any public transit including airplanes, cabs and ride shares, schools, health care facilities, detention facilities and homeless, emergency and cooling centers. When CB first sent this to me, I was confused because I thought there already was a mask mandate. I was half right. Los Angeles County already has this mandate in place and the rest of the state is mirroring what we’re doing. Let’s hope this works, because 47% is a shocking number for a virus that has a vaccine readily available.
Citing a sharp increase in COVID-19 infection rates since Thanksgiving, the state announced Monday that beginning Wednesday, mask-wearing will become mandatory in all indoor public settings across California regardless of vaccination status.
The mask mandate, mirroring a requirement already in effect in Los Angeles County and select other counties across the state, will remain in place until Jan. 15.
The state will also toughen the restriction for unvaccinated people who attend indoor “mega-events” of 1,000 people or more, requiring them to receive a negative COVID-19 test within one day of the event if it’s a rapid antigen test or within two days for a PCR test. The current rules require a test within 72 hours of the event.
State officials will also recommend, but not require, that people who travel to California or return to the state after traveling be tested for COVID-19 within three to five days.
California Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly said the rule change is being prompted by a 47% increase in COVID-19 case rates across the state since Thanksgiving. He said over that time, the statewide rate of daily new cases went from 9.6 per 100,000 residents to more than 14 per 100,000.
“As we look at the evidence that masks do make a difference, even a 10% increase in indoor masking can reduce case transmission significantly,” he said.
Under current state guidelines — which are followed by many counties including Riverside, Orange and San Diego — masks are only required indoors at public transit facilities such as airports, healthcare settings, adult and senior care facilities, schools, correctional facilities, homeless shelters, emergency shelters and cooling centers.
The state already technically requires mask-wearing for unvaccinated people at indoor public facilities, but the new rule will impact everyone regardless of vaccine status.
“We know that there’s going to be people who don’t necessarily agree with this, who are tired, who aren’t going to mask,” Ghaly said. “We hope that those are few and far between, that most people see the purpose of doing this over the next month as something to protect them and their communities during a very tough time.”
Obviously, I am not much affected by this new mandate since I’ve been living with it since, I guess, March 2020. I have no idea if we were ever allowed to go maskless here in LA, but I haven’t been, and I don’t know many who have. I did get ticked off at two women in the nail salon who were getting pedicures with their masks pulled down to their chins. When one was in ear shot, I mentioned her “mask had slipped.” She glowered at me and said some nasty stuff about me to her friend, but they both pulled their masks up. There are people grousing, of course. One guy in the article runs a barbershop and he talked about what an inconvenience it is, especially beard trimming. I get that complaint. But it’s still better than closing for a month. Or getting sick.
The article suggested, and I agree, that California is also spooked by last year’s surge that crippled us in January and February. That was a frightening time. But we didn’t have the vaccine. I don’t want to get sick, but I am not terrified of hearing a cough in my house since my family’s been vaccinated and boostered. And I will go outside – masked, of course – which I didn’t almost at all for the first part of 2020. California is 70% vaccinated. That’s pretty good but it’s still almost 12M people unvaccinated. I know some of those are kids but probably not as many as we’d like to think. And the vaccinated can still spread the virus. So masking up through the holiday/travel season is wise. People will complain and find ridiculous reason to make this about politics and personal oppression. But if it keeps the state open while still letting people travel and keeps us safe then great. Besides, I have some really cute winter masks this season, I need to show them off.
Photos by Max Fischer, cottonbro, Anna Tarazevich and Ketut Subiyanto from Pexels
In my area of CA (Central Valley), we still don’t even have a 50% vaccination level. This mandate will be largely ignored and barely enforced.
That’s the infuriating part: NO enforcement! I live in So. Cal, and my area’s vax rate is in the 80s. HOWEVER, we are a HIGHLY VISITED tourist area, and a LOT of tourists (and you know you can tell who they are lol, esp. here!) are maskless. And make a LOT of noise when asked to mask up. A lot of the local business don’t enforce or even ask about seeing proof of vax before entering (as restaurants, stores, bars, etc are *supposed* to do here), because they don’t want to turn away business. And I understand the financial hurt, it’s nuts!
Just like you, Hecate, these two women come into my nail salon every time I’m there, masks under the chin or just under the nose. I’ve asked my manicurist to ask them to pull them up, and she demurs, saying she’ll talk to them. I’VE asked them and I get dirty looks, and the mask will go up for a min. before it “slips” again. I’ve spoken to the owner, who “talks” to them, but does nothing at the next “slip” under the nose. I told them point blank that if this is such a problem I won’t come back, and I’ve been a regular with my tech for over 10 yrs, and I tip VERY well. We’ll see what happens this Thurs. when I go in.
I am fully vaxxed, boosted, and flu-shot. I will continue to wear my KN95 when I’m out where there will be even a ‘small’ amount of people, and I use a 4 ply surgical mask if I’m out alone in the common areas of my condo (rules, which of course, the MAGAts here don’t follow!). Still…all I can do.
I live on Monterey Bay and we never stopped wearing our masks in all public places and even outside walking. We have a pretty low rate of infection and I don’t know anyone who hasn’t been vaccinated or wear their masks. Central Valley in Ca if mostly Trump voters area and Trump voters would rather catch the virus than protect themselves.
I live in the Central Valley as well and actually have meetings with the Fresno County Health Department monthly (I was in charge of the vaccination program at my job and we were one of the first in our industry to get the vaccine so they asked if I would like to sit in on the meetings) and it’s mostly the south valley that is under vaccinated (Kings, Tulare, etc). Fresno county is sitting at about 60%. But it’s hard to really say because of the amount of undocumented people in the valley. The vast majority of them working here aren’t using their real names or SS numbers. So it’s hard to really count them in any sort of census.
Here in Ontario, CA we’ve been wearing masks indoors for 2 years. Not really a big deal. Personally I don’t plan to take mine off any time soon.
Also in Ontario and totally agree. It’s easier to just stick with masks instead of ping-ponging back and forth. I have asthma and while I don’t love smelling my breath so much, wearing a mask is…fine.
I wish we would go back to it here, not just for Covid but all the other stuff going around too. I’ve been wearing a mask pretty much everywhere, but I’ve already gotten sick this fall, I know someone who currently has the flu.
I was in the LA area and the desert to the east at Thanksgiving, having traveled for the first time on a plane from the East Coast since this all started thanks to my whole family finally having the opportunity to be vaccinated. LA may have a mask mandate, but I was honestly shocked at how crowded all the indoor spaces were. It’s LA—it’s always outdoor weather, people!! What are any of you doing inside?! And yet sidewalk cafes were empty but the indoor seating area at those same restaurants were packed, and nobody was wearing masks when they were seated at their tables. And as for the desert, it was as if the pandemic weren’t happening as far as the locals were concerned (tourists were good about masking, though). So LA may have a mask mandate, but as a layperson observing, I couldn’t help but feel that people were still really doing it wrong…the surge is unsurprising.
Bay Area resident here! People are pretty damn good about mask wearing for the most part but I still see some not wearing it so I am SO glad is it being mandated now!!! It is winter! Let’s be healthy. We’ll definitely be enforcing this at the salon i work at
I go between Santa Barbara and Silicon Valley area and everyone has a mask on indoors. Makes me not want to travel to any red area or state for a long time.
Oakland resident here. I’m always shocked when these mask mandates come and go because 99% of us in the Bay Area (San Francisco and surrounding areas) have been wearing masks non-stop since 2020.
In Alameda and SF counties there may have been a couple weeks when the mandate was lifted but it’s been pretty consistent since March 2020. Over Thanksgiving I stopped for gas near the Nevada border and no one in the store was wearing masks. I had to check my GPS to confirm I was still in California.
Southern Californian here and I have to give credit to Alameda County, where I was 2 weeks ago for work. Like @Bettyrose says, they are masked up in Silicon Valley! I also go back and forth between across the state and it’s been interesting to see, by geo-location, how many people do/don’t wear masks. As @Bettyrose mentioned, SB has been great. No complaints or worries when I am up there. LA has had the mandate and it’s pretty much been enforced wherever I have been up there, which I have been very happy to see. I spend most of my time in San Diego county and that’s just a crapshoot. You’ll see some people exercising outdoors with masks on and then walk into a Target (or even Costco, which was doing so well with the mandate last year) and see more than 1/2 of the people in the store without masks. I’m vaxxed (2+1), but the Omicron variant does have me concerned, especially during this time of year. I’m not flying right now, which I have done several times this past year, and I don’t have any plans to anytime soon. It’s really just about being cautious.
Oh – and as far as Nevada goes, I went to Vegas earlier this year for a meeting. I was supposed to be there Monday-Friday and no one was wearing masks. Also, my hotel (a national chain, not on the strip) was filthy. So, by Tuesday night I had checked out and flown back to CA. It’s not worth it.
It sounds like you made a comment that her mask had slipped hoping she would overhear but maybe you meant she happened to hear by accident. I totally see where you’re coming from but I do NOT engage with these crazies in any way, shape, or form. A comment either aggressive or passive aggressive is a risk to yourself because who knows what these people are capable of? They cling to their insane values (they may have pulled their mask up around you but I’m sure it wasn’t some epiphany for them). Although I guess you are safe if her toes were drying she wouldn’t be able to come after you, didn’t think of that.
I live in Los Angeles and was confused until I read the article
I think the whole “masks required for the unvaccinated” was always a bad idea anyway *. Here a lot of the signs at businesses do say things like “masks no longer required but we encourage you to wear a mask if you’re not vaccinated” and of course no one is masked inside at all, and I know they’re not all vaccinated. but who is enforcing it?
Our library though does have a big sign up about how masks aren’t required but given their clientele they prefer everyone wear one to keep everyone safe (especially during the week, the age of the average library patron is probably 70ish, or really young kids.) I appreciate that and I do notice that most people in there are masked.
*A bad idea because there’s no real way to enforce it without checking for vaccination status and everyone just took that as an opportunity to ditch their masks.
I still don’t qualify for my booster shot and as I have to get some boosters for other vaccines I’m not even sure when I will be able to get the covid booster. It sucks, but at least in Italy the indoor mask mandates, social distancing rules were kept even during the summer. Right now the situation is tough but still manageable. I’m so thankful that actual competent people are dealing with the covid emergency, because if the idiots of our far-right were in power every other day would be like the hell of March/April 2020.
In Italy, they require vaccination proof for almost anything: movies, restaurants, caffès, plane travel, skiing, etc. If you don’t want to get vaxxed you still have to show proof that you are have tested negative to covid every 48 hours even to go to work or to ride on public transportation. Certain categories (medical personnel, police, military, and teachers) have a mandatory vaccine order, either they get vaxxed or they get suspended without pay until they do so or until the emergency is over. I’m so happy that they are taking the tough love policy.
In my NY county the indoor mask mandate went back into effect about a month ago. The county executive had to cancel events because he was getting threatened over reinstating the mandate.
Meanwhile, over in PA our Department of Health’s mask order has been struck down so schools are back to being on their own to come up with rules about mask requirements. My kid’s school now strongly encourages masks but they are optional and our area’s covid rate is at 65 per 100k with 58% vaccination rate.
NY State has enacted the same mandate just a few days ago, Governor Hochul has signed a mandate requiring all indoor places to require masks if the place of business does not check vaccination status until January 15th.
It’s been like that in our province of Canada for pretty much the entire pandemic 🤷♀️