Alameda County health officials announced Thursday that they are reinstating the county’s indoor mask mandate as COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations continue to increase while San Mateo County officials said they are not considering something similar.
In Alameda County, the mandate will go into effect at 12:01 a.m. Friday and will apply to most indoor public settings, including grocery stores and gyms.
Students and staff at K-12 schools will not be required to wear masks under the order through the end of the 2021-22 school year, according to the Alameda County Health Care Services Agency, but they will be required in all other settings for children including summer school and youth programs.
The order will not apply to the city of Berkeley, which operates as its own local health jurisdiction. A spokesperson for the city did not respond when asked whether Berkeley will align with the county.
Alameda County is the first county in the Bay Area to reinstate mask requirements in indoor public settings since February, when the state and most counties in the greater Bay Area lifted mask requirements that were implemented to combat the winter surge driven by the omicron variant.
Santa Clara County was the lone holdout among the 11 counties in the greater Bay Area, keeping its indoor mask requirement in place until March 2.
Health officials have urged a return to widespread masking in recent weeks amid a new surge in cases primarily spurred by the omicron subvariant BA.2.
In San Mateo County, health officials are continuing to urge residents to choose to wear high-quality masks indoors, and stay current with vaccinations and boosters. In San Mateo County, case counts reached a high of more than 500 May 22 but have dropped to below 200 in recent days, according to County Health.
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CoastalBoy said:
cube_corner said:
Better hurry up and increase spending soon! We can't allow a surplus.
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