COVID: Alameda County to require masks in most indoor settings as cases spike
ALAMEDA COUNTY -- Health officials in Alameda County on Thursday announced they will reinstate a mask requirement for most indoor settings due to surging COVID cases.
A release issued by Alameda County Health Care Services announced that the masking requirement would go into effect beginning 12:01 a.m. on Friday, June 3, 2022. Officials noted the new masking mandate does not apply to the city of Berkeley, which is under its own independent local health jurisdiction.
The latest 7-day average is approximately 46.5 cases per 100,000 residents, according to available data.
"We're up above 100 people in the hospital today. Our intensive care unit numbers have just started to increase as well," said Dr. Nicholas Moss, Alameda County health officer.
The county health officer noted that COVID-related hospitalizations have more than doubled in the past month due to the spike in cases from the latest omicron variant of the virus. Health officials will continue to monitor COVID cases and hospitalizations to determine when the renewed order can be safely lifted.
While Alameda County is not requiring masks in K-12 public school settings through the end of the 2021-22 school year, masking is still strongly recommended for students and staff. Officials said masks will be required in all other children and youth settings, including childcare, summer school, and youth programs.
Following the announcement by health officials, AC Transit followed suit, issuing a statement saying that face masks were no longer voluntary but instead required when boarding, riding, and exiting all AC Transit bus lines. The release said the new onboard face mask requirement takes effect at 12:01 a.m. on Friday, June 3, 2022 and remains in place until further notice.
Daily reported COVID-19 cases have surged past the peak of last summer's delta variant wave and are currently approaching levels seen during the initial winter 2020-21 omicron wave. Officials believe the number of reported cases are an underestimate of the total due to home testing and unidentified infections.
Officials said hospitalizations "are also rising after remaining stable during the early weeks of this wave. Daily new admissions of patients with COVID-19 rapidly increased in recent days and now exceed last summer's peak." Given the current upward trend in case numbers, Alameda County officials expect to reach the CDC's "high" COVID-19 Community Level soon.
Additionally, officials noted that when COVID-19 cases first started to rise again in April, data did not indicate a disproportionate impacts on communities of color. Unfortunately, that is no longer true as Hispanic/Latino residents now have the highest case rate in Alameda County among the largest race/ethnicity groups.
"Rising COVID cases in Alameda County are now leading to more people being hospitalized and today's action reflects the seriousness of the moment," said Alameda County Health Officer Dr. Nicholas Moss in the release. "We cannot ignore the data, and we can't predict when this wave may end. Putting our masks back on gives us the best opportunity to limit the impact of a prolonged wave on our communities."
Even though widespread COVID-19 vaccination, boosters, prior infection and available medications are providing protection against severe illness, the current highly transmissible variant of the virus is circulating at very high levels in Alameda County. Despite those strong protections, such high numbers of infections put more people at risk and in the hospital.
"We were hoping this was going to be declining but we see the opposite," said Dr. Hector Bonilla, an associate professor of infectious diseases at Stanford University.
He supports the decision by the county.
"People hesitate to wear masks, people hesitate to get a vaccine, hesitate to take medications, and this is the problem that we have," he said. "We have surprises and surprises every time against this virus,"
Masking provides an added layer of protection against infection from a virus that spreads through the air. Wearing a high-quality mask protects both the wearer and those around them, and having more people masked will help slow the spread of COVID-19. Children under age 2 should not mask.
"Unfortunately, COVID has not gone away and once again, we must take measures to protect ourselves, friends and community members, and employees and patrons from this very infectious virus," said Colleen Chawla, director of the Alameda County Health Care Services Agency.
In addition to masking, residents are reminded to continue limiting the spread of COVID-19 by taking other steps like staying home if sick or testing positive, test if symptomatic or exposed and keep gatherings small and outdoors or increasing ventilation for indoors gathering.
"At a certain point, there's enough COVID going around that we are seeing severe disease impact despite all those tools," Dr. Moss told KPIX. "We are still preparing for worse conditions later in the year, I hope that doesn't happen but I think it's prudent to prepare for that."
Some business owners worry customers will go elsewhere.. since Alameda County is the only one in the Bay Area requiring masks indoors once again.
"It's really really disappointing. We've worked really really hard to get our business back after COVID and this is just another hit," said Ryan Brown at the Superfly Wheels bike store.
Anyone who is not vaccinated or boosted is strongly urged to get vaccinated if eligible and to communicate with health professionals if feeling symptoms or after testing positive. Residents can visit the Alameda County COVID-19 website for additional information and resources.