COVID: California To Drop Statewide Mask Rules For Vaccinated Feb. 15; Local Masking Rules Can Continue
SACRAMENTO (CBS / AP) — California will end its indoor masking requirement for vaccinated people next week but masks still are the rule for schoolchildren, state health officials announced Monday amid rapidly falling coronavirus cases.
"I think California is ready," said University of California San Francisco Prof. of Medicine Dr. Peter Chin-Hong. "One of the silver linings of Omicron, so to speak, is that a large number of the American population saw the virus, and as a result of that they became immune."
After Feb. 15, unvaccinated people still will be required to be masked indoors, and everyone — vaccinated or not — will have to wear masks in higher-risk areas like public transit and nursing homes and other congregate living facilities, officials said. Local governments can continue their own indoor masking requirements. Last week, Los Angeles County's health officials said they intend to keep theirs in place beyond the state deadline.
The state's announcement follows a 65% decline in COVID cases, Newsom said.
Dr. Chin-Hong said that the increase in community immunity from the widespread of the Omicron variant, early COVID intervention treatments and the significant decline in cases are among the reasons he agrees with the state's stance that it's time to loosen mask measures.
Next week's measure will include a vaccination or negative test result requirement for attendees of indoor "mega events" of more than 1,000 people. Masks will also be mandatory for such events. For outdoor events with more than 10,000 people, there is no vaccination requirement but masks or negative tests are recommended.
The new threshold comes after Sunday's Super Bowl that will draw as many as 100,000 football fans to SoFi Stadium outside Los Angeles.
With coronavirus cases falling fast, California also is lifting a requirement that people produce a negative coronavirus test before visiting hospitals and nursing homes, effective immediately.
"Omicron has loosened its hold on California, vaccines for children under 5 are around the corner, and access to COVID-19 treatments is improving," said state Public Health Officer Dr. Tomás J. Aragón. "With things moving in the right direction, we are making responsible modifications to COVID-19 prevention measures, while also continuing to develop a longer-term action plan for the state."
Business owners, including Toni King, are holding their breath on what counties will decide on Feb. 15. King owns YogaSix studios in Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties.
"We are anticipating that the counties will have two different rules," King said. "I would hope that they follow what the state is doing. My dream would be that both of them just say,'This makes sense, state of California, let's follow suit and make it easier on businesses.'"
Chin-Hong believes that in "stable environments" where proof of vaccination is required, removing your mask may outweigh the benefit more than the risk for some. However, he said people should use more caution in settings where there is a lot of movement, including grocery stores and malls.
"Whenever you're in a crowded situation with lots of different households coming together, you don't know who they are, it's probably still a good idea when there's a lot of virus floating around to wear your mask," Chin-Hong said.
King just began to make it mandatory for her students to show proof of vaccination. She said it's just one more step to operating business as close to normal as possible.
"If they know that the people that are taking their mask off are vaccinated then I think they're going to feel a whole lot safe," said King.
"I think we are all hoping for a quick juncture," Stan Houston, owner of Mozart Einstein & Me in Livermore, told KPIX 5. "You know, we're all ready to take this mask off."
Like just about everyone, Houston is tired of masking. He will, however, be keeping his on.
"For me, I'm 69 years old," Houston said. "I may be one of the holdouts and let the general public come into my store, elect whether they wear a mask or not. But I may keep mine on for another few months, just to feel safe and comfy."
Plenty of others, of course, are more than ready to move on.
George Rutherford, an epidemiologist at UCSF, told KPIX 5 that pandemic fatigue is real, and fortunately, it coincides with a sharp drop in virus spread.
"I think, hopefully for now, fingers crossed, well they're definitely going in the right direction," Rutherford says of the pandemic's course. "And hopefully, fingers crossed, they'll continue in the right direction for the next several months."
Gov. Gavin Newsom's administration brought back the masking mandate in mid-December as omicron gained momentum and last month extended the requirement through Feb. 15. California passed 80,000 pandemic deaths and 8 million confirmed positive cases last week but new cases, hospitalizations and ICU admissions all continued falling Monday and are projected to keep declining at a rapid clip.
Before resuming the masking requirement in December, California had lifted the requirement for people who were vaccinated as of June 15, a date that Newsom had described then as the state's grand reopening. However, many counties soon reinstituted local mask orders as the summer delta surge took hold.
Newsom, a Democrat, has come under pressure from Republicans and other critics to ease the mandates. He recently has said the state is preparing for the day when the coronavirus can be considered endemic, with rules that accept that it is here to stay but can be managed with caution.
Health officials said Monday that more changes to the state's policies will be released in the coming week.
The developments in California come as New Jersey and Delaware announced plans Monday to lift the statewide COVID-19 mask requirement in schools next month. They are among a dozen states with mask mandates in schools.
California health officials said Monday that they are "continuing to work with education, public health and community leaders to update masking requirements at schools to adapt to changing conditions and ensure the safety of kids, teachers, and staff."
Last week, Los Angeles County public health director Barbara Ferrer said the winter surge will be considered over in the nation's most populous county when hospitalizations fall below 2,500 for seven days in a row. The county will then end its mask requirement for large outdoor events such as concerts and sporting events and for outdoor spaces at schools and child-care facilities.
It plans to keep indoor mask requirements in place until the county has two straight weeks at or below a "moderate" rate of 50 new cases per 100,000 people and there aren't any reports of a new, troubling variant circulating, Ferrer said. The current rate is 117 cases per 100,000 people.
Health officials continue emphasizing that those most at risk for the virus are the unvaccinated, and that booster shots in particular provide significant protection from serious illness, hospitalization and death.
Maria Medina Wilson Walker contributed reporting.
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