SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The commuter train system servicing the San Francisco Bay Area is again requiring masks for travelers and employees, the agency said.
The Bay Area Rapid Transit's board of directors voted Thursday to immediately reinstate the mask mandate on all trains and in stations beyond ticket gates. It runs through Oct. 1 unless it's extended again.
BART's previous mask mandate started in April and ended on July 18. For 10 days, masking was optional but highly encouraged.
BART serves commuters in the Bay Area counties of San Francisco, San Mateo, Alameda, Contra Costa and Santa Clara.
BART board's vote came hours after Los Angeles County public health officials dropped a plan to impose a universal indoor mask mandate this week as COVID-19 infections and rates of hospitalizations have stabilized. However, masks are still required at all indoor public transportation hubs in Los Angeles County, including airports and bus terminals and on all public transit, including buses, trains, taxis and ride-hailing service vehicles.
Both San Francisco and Los Angeles counties are at the "high" level of community transmission set by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
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(5) comments
How sad. After numerous studies, along with the CDC, confirming what many of us already know – masks don’t prevent COVID infections, the board of directors at BART and the sky-is-falling LA public health folks think they know better than science. Hey BART and LA, do I need to remind you that Newsom, Breed, Pelosi, and numerous other Democrats trust the science and even they eschewed masks when there was a mandate. Long live COVID theatre!
Masks reduce transmission. No one has EVER said they prevent infections. There is a reason surgeons wear masks during operations. If you were having an operation, would you prefer the doctors and nurses did not wear masks because they do not prevent infections? I wish you could have some empathy for people who are immune compromised or are caring for someone who is. Some do not have an alternative and must take public transportation.
Westy – if the operating crew is okay with bodily fluids potentially spraying into their noses and mouths, good luck to them. However, I’m sure both the patient and the operating crew are okay with reducing the amount of bacteria in the operating theatre. Masks have pore sizes small enough to catch most bacteria but viruses (much smaller than bacteria), not so much, which is why they’re ineffective against COVID. As for masks, you’re now admitting masks don’t prevent infections and only reduce transmission? I’ll take that premise and posit that if they do reduce transmission, it’ll only be for about a second, or less, as your breath passes through the porous mask barrier. I doubt that a second will reduce much transmission, as numerous studies and real world results have shown. Well, unless we all move at the speed of Flash. As for empathy, I wish you could have some for folks, including kids, who are at increased likelihood of getting sick or contracting a deadly infection due to wearing masks. There is an alternative: it’s called follow the science. Your body, your choice as to whether to mask, or double-, or triple-mask...
So the tiny particles crawl through the holes in the mask on their tiny tiny legs and then take wing after they get through? Very interesting theory!
An even more interesting theory! But they don’t need tiny tiny legs when they can float on your breath or air current. And they don’t need wings when they can float on your breath or air current. I hear the guy you’re afraid to talk about, Biden, has COVID again. I guess all those tiny tiny legs, per your description, slipped through everyone’s mask and took wing to infect Biden. Those little particles don’t seem much afraid of Biden’s quadruple-jab. I guess all their tiny tiny legs maneuvered around the jab juice particles. BTW, my dog chases after and has caught COVID, many times. I’ve gotten COVID many times, too. He has a plush toy, similar to a hedgehog, in the shape of and named COVID. Every time I toss the plush and say “Get COVID!” the big guy gets COVID and drops it in front of me. I then pick up COVID and toss it for another round of fetch. Happy National Mutt Day!
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